HANOVER, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mar. 16, 2016-- Ciena^® (NYSE: CIEN) is extending the benefits of its market-leading 6500 Packet-Optical Platform to significantly increase network scalability and accelerate the move to open, virtualized, SDN-based architectures. Ciena’s 6500 T-Series is purpose-built for the Terabit world, offering significantly reduced power consumption and space requirements. It enables service providers to scale their metro and regional networks to support today’s voracious demand for web-scale applications like streaming video, cloud computing and virtualized, software-based networking capabilities.

Verizon is in the process of deploying Ciena’s 6500 T-Series to scale its next generation 100G metro network from both a capacity and an operational perspective, as well as efficiently distribute customizable content to end users and provide an on-demand, superior customer experience.

Executive Comments:

• “More powerful smartphones, tablets and the proliferation of streaming video from consumers and businesses alike are pushing networks to the brink of current capabilities. T-Series adds powerful new capabilities to our market-leading 6500 Packet-Optical Platform family and builds on its widespread installed base to help our customers build larger, more agile and robust networks that cater to rising web-scale demands today and well into the future.” Scott McFeely, Senior Vice President, Networking Platforms Division,Ciena

• “Service providers must build networks that can connect consumers and businesses to ever evolving cloud and virtualization services as well as respond to the viral nature of today’s web-scale world. Ciena does this in the 6500 T-Series by leveraging the latest technology to deliver industry leading packet-optical density. This announcement is a big deal - the 6500 T-Series extends on the success of the 6500 in the marketplace and simultaneously demonstrates Ciena’s leadership in both converged packet & OTN switching and photonics.” Andrew Schmitt, Founder and Lead Analyst, Cignal AI

Available this month, Ciena’s 6500 T-Series provides up to ten times more port density, scaling from 2.4 Tb/s to 24 Tb/s in a single chassis, and to more than 100 Tb/s in a multi-chassis nodal configuration, ensuring service providers can efficiently meet exploding bandwidth requirements for years to come.