UK CARRIER KINGSTON COMMUNICATIONS NOW DEPLOYING INFRASTRUCTURE WITH FSP 2000 FROM ADVA OPTICAL NETWORKING

Martinsried/Munich, Germany; Mahwah/New Jersey, USA. March 18, 2003. ADVA Optical Networking (FSE: ADV), a leading global provider of optical networking solutions, today announced that UK carrier Kingston Communications has expanded deployments from ADVA's Fiber Service Platform (FSP) 500 systems to now include the FSP 2000.

Kingston has deployed more than one hundred FSP 500 systems since 1999 through the continued expansion of its national telecommunications network in the United Kingdom. The carrier found its niche in the market by targeting small- to medium-sized enterprises with ADVA's FSP 500 for inexpensive managed services. Initial deployments of 10/100 Ethernet connections evolved into Gigabit Ethernet and now STM-4 services. Kingston has established to-date twenty-five metro regional fiber networks and its own long distance fiber network with Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology. ADVA's FSP 2000 is currently being deployed at specific points in Kingston's network infrastructure to relieve fiber exhaustion and address mis-matched fiber problems.

"ADVA has proven itself a valuable partner to Kingston over the past several years," noted Brian Gilbert, Broadband Planning Manager at Kingston Communications. "Their products combine technology excellence with a low total cost of ownership and rapid returns-on-investment; thereby enabling us to capture significant market share amongst small- to medium-sized enterprises in the UK. We look forward to working with ADVA for a long time to come."

"We are pleased to expand our relationship with Kingston Communications to now include the FSP 2000 platform," stated Jürgen Hansjosten, Chief Sales Officer at ADVA Optical Networking. "These deployments demonstrate the value a well-segmented, end-to-end optical networking portfolio can deliver for the metro area networks of both carriers and enterprises."

ADVA's FSP 2000 employs parallel use of Coarse/Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (C/DWDM) and TDM technology and enables up to 512 applications to be transported over one single fiber pair up to 200 kilometers. Its robust character and ability to transport all protocols between 8Mbit/s and 10Gbit/s make the FSP 2000 an ideal solution particularly for large-scale, high-bandwidth storage networks.

ADVA's FSP 500 is a managed fiber access and CWDM solution specifically designed as a very cost-effective system for delivering high-speed data, storage, and voice applications. It supports service speeds ranging from 2Mbit/s to 2.5Gbit/s over distances of up to 70 kilometers on singlemode fiber.

ABOUT THE KINGSTON GROUP
Kingston Communications is an established UK communications company with a strategic focus on three key areas of activity. The Group's business-to-business solutions division encompasses a broad portfolio of voice, data, contact centre and hosting solutions. This national division is complemented by twenty-five metropolitan fibre networks and a long distance broadband network, which was initiated for service in May 2001. Kingston's new media activities include the DSL-based interactive television service, KIT, and international satellite-centric broadband solutions arm, Kingston inmedia. The Group's East Yorkshire network operation has served business and residential customers since 1904.

ABOUT ADVA OPTICAL NETWORKING
ADVA Optical Networking is a leading global provider of optical networking solutions for rapid and cost-effective provisioning of high-speed data, storage, voice, and video services in the metropolitan area. ADVA's carrier-class portfolio is comprised of the Fiber Service Platform family of products - explicitly designed to ensure the lowest total cost of ownership. ADVA's solutions have been deployed at over 70 carriers and service providers (including PTTs, RBOCs, LECs, and IXCs) and more than 500 enterprises worldwide. ADVA's products are sold through an international network of blue-chip distribution partners in addition to its own direct sales force. Further information about ADVA Optical Networking: www.advaoptical.com.