Infinera Captures Number One Spot for 10G Long-Haul Shipments for Full Year 2005

Infinera seized the number one market share position in shipments of 10 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) long-haul wavelengths in its first full year of shipping product, according to data on the optical networking market from independent analyst firm the Dell'Oro Group.

In 2005, Infinera shipped 5343 wavelengths, for a 20% share of the 10 Gb/s long-haul market. The market-leading demand for the Infinera DTN optical system shows strong customer acceptance of Infinera's Digital Optical Network architecture. Infinera's pioneering use of large-scale photonic integrated circuits (PICs) enables the DTN to deliver the industry's best bandwidth density, maximum service flexibility, and a simple digital operational paradigm.

"We are gratified by the speed at which service providers worldwide have adopted the Infinera solution in our first year of shipping product," said Jagdeep Singh, co-founder and CEO of Infinera. "These market share figures reflect the compelling advantages photonic integration delivers to service providers in terms of unprecedented bandwidth density, cost-effectiveness, and rapid service availability."

Infinera was founded in 2001 with the unique mission of combining inside one company innovation at the component level with innovation at the systems level to revolutionize the economics of carrier transport networks. The Infinera DTN began shipping in the fourth quarter of 2004. The Infinera DTN combines the scalability of multi-wavelength DWDM transport, the flexibility of reconfigurable digital switching, and the operational simplicity of GMPLS service intelligence all in one platform.

As a new, private company, Infinera's shipments are not broken out as a separate line item in Dell'Oro's published tables, but are included in Dell'Oro's totals. According to Dell'Oro data, the top three vendors in 10G long-haul shipments in 2005 were Infinera with 20.0%, Nortel with 16.6%, and Alcatel with 9.4%.

Infinera Led Overall LH DWDM Shipments in Fourth Quarter

In the fourth quarter, Infinera's shipments of 10G wavelengths were strong enough to give the company the number one position in the market for all long-haul wavelengths shipped, despite the fact that Infinera doesn't ship wavelengths at any line rate other than 10 Gb/s. Infinera led the long-haul wavelength shipment table for Q4 with an 18.4% market share. Huawei came second in this segment at 16.3%, boosted by its strong shipments of 2.5 Gb/s wavelengths.

Neither of these two vendors was present at all in the market four years ago when the market was dominated by conventional optical equipment vendors.

"The rise of a new set of vendors represents a historic transformation of the optical telecommunications industry, and demonstrates the importance of innovation, investment, differentiation and value-for-money in our industry," said Singh. "Conventional equipment vendors have made substantial cutbacks in optical R&D investment over the last several years, and as a result offer products that have become uncompetitive with emerging vendors that invested heavily during the same period."

The top three vendors in Q4 in Dell'Oro's analysis of the market for all long-haul wavelengths were Infinera with 18.4%, Huawei with 16.3%, and Alcatel with 13.6%.

In the fourth quarter of 2005, Infinera's shipments rose to 2282 wavelengths, 57% more than third quarter shipments, according to Dell'Oro's data. In Q4, Infinera took first place in the 10G long-haul wavelength market with a 25.9% share, eleven percentage points ahead of the second-ranked vendor.

Optical Market: Back to Double-Digit Growth

According to the Dell'Oro report, after a prolonged slump, the optical networking market is enjoying vigorous growth once again. In 2005, the market grew by 22% to $8.44 billion. Within that total, the long-haul market also enjoyed strong growth, rising 26% to $1.45 billion. Infinera customers report growth in IP traffic of 100% per year or more, and those customers that are experiencing strong growth in demand on their networks choose Infinera for its industry-leading bandwidth density and scalability.

"Based on what we've seen so far this year, 2006 appears on-track to be another year of strong growth, for the industry and for Infinera," Singh said.

About Infinera

Infinera provides Digital Optical Networking systems to telecommunications carriers worldwide. Infinera's systems are unique in their use of a breakthrough semiconductor technology: the Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC). Infinera's systems and PIC technology are designed to provide optical networks with simpler engineering and operations, faster time-to-service, and more flexible networking. For more information, please visit www.infinera.com .

For further information: Jeff Ferry Infinera Tel. 1 (408) 572-5213 Mobile 1 (650) 273-2100 Email Contact