Infinera Unveils New Passive PIC Platform

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - June 9, 2008) - Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) is introducing two new passive photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with the launch of its ILS2 line system today. Infinera's passive PICs are designed to deliver benefits similar to Infinera's existing PICs, including greater density of functionality in a smaller space, reduced power consumption, simplified manufacturing, and enhanced reliability. The introduction of these additional PICs should increase the importance and the value of photonic integration as a key enabling technology for service providers facing the growing challenge of meeting escalating bandwidth demand while keeping a grip on network cost.

Infinera's optoelectronic or "active" PICs will continue to sit at the heart of Infinera's DTN system. The active PICs, offering 100 Gigabits/second of DWDM capacity on every Infinera line card, have integrated active devices such as lasers, modulators, and photodiodes. These active PICs are now in their second generation of development and include additional functionality not present on the first generation of active PICs. Future generations of active PICs are planned to scale to higher capacities and to add additional functionality. In March, independent analyst firm Heavy Reading labeled Infinera the world leader in photonic integration technology and estimated Infinera had a four-year lead over the rest of the industry in photonic integration technology.

Infinera's new passive PICs integrate passive devices such as multiplexers, interleavers, variable optical attenuators and waveguides, and play key roles in routing and filtering DWDM wavelengths in the ILS2 system, which enables up to 160 DWDM channels on a single fiber. [See related news release, Infinera Introduces New Line System, Sets New Standard for Capacity for further information on ILS2.] Infinera's passive PIC technology is based on the use of a proprietary glass, Hydex®, which enables a reduction in the size of the planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) on the PICs by roughly 90% compared to conventional material technologies. Hydex is manufactured at Infinera's semiconductor fabrication facility in Annapolis Junction, Maryland, which is also where the passive PICs are produced. Hydex supports waveguides with far tighter bends than conventional PLCs, enabling dense integration of devices on Hydex-based PICs, yielding chips far smaller with significantly more functionality than conventional PLC devices.

More Than 40 Devices on a Chip

Each of these passive PICs is less than one square centimeter in area. Conventional PLCs typically would require roughly 100 times the area to perform similar functions. The Infinera passive PICs eliminate more than 90% of the fiber couplings and discrete packages found in non-PIC based systems, and are designed to deliver significant benefits in network reliability and simplify manufacturing and test processes, leading to more time-efficient and cost-efficient production.

One of the passive PICs introduced today is a precision multi-wavelength multiplexer/ demultiplexer, supporting ILS2's 25 Gigahertz (GHz) channel spacings. It integrates the functionality of more than 40 devices onto a single chip. The other passive PIC, announced today serves as a wavelength management device, integrating the functionality of more than ten devices on a chip. Both PICs play important roles in enabling the new ILS2 to pack up to160 channels or wavelengths of light into the C-band while supporting ultra-long-haul distances.

"This is another important milestone for Infinera and for photonic integration," commented Sterling Perrin, Senior Analyst at Heavy Reading. "The company established itself as the world leader in photonic integration with its initial PIC pair, launched in 2004. In 2008, the company is proving that it continues to lead in PIC innovation -- first with its active PIC roadmap announced earlier in the year and now with its new passive PICs."

"Infinera believes that integration is the only known technology that can improve the capacity of a network while simultaneously delivering benefits in terms of cost per bit, reliability, scalability, speed of operation, density, and power consumption," commented Infinera Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer Dave Welch. "Our passive PICs, based on a different platform from our active PICs, demonstrate that PIC technology can be applied to multiple materials, and to multiple points in the design of an optical network. We believe that photonic integration is still at a relatively early stage in its life as a key technology for optics."

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 and more flexible engineering and operations, faster time-to-service, and the ability to rapidly deliver differentiated services without reengineering their optical infrastructure. For more information, please visit www.infinera.com.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to Infinera as of the date hereof; and actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied, due to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Infinera's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future which includes Infinera's belief that the introduction of additional PICs increases the importance and the value of photonic integration as a key enabling technology for service providers; that passive PICs deliver significant benefits in network reliability and simplify manufacturing and test processes, leading to more efficient production; that ILS2's 25 Gigahertz (GHz) channel spacings is industry-leading; and that Integration is the most powerful technology direction in optical networks today and the only known technology that can improve the capacity of a network while simultaneously delivering benefits in terms of cost per bit, reliability, scalability, speed of operation, density, and power consumption. Such forward-looking statements can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipated," "believed," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "should," "will," and "would" or similar words. The risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include aggressive business tactics by our competitors, our dependence on a single product, our ability to protect our intellectual property, claims by others that we infringe their intellectual property, our manufacturing process is very complex, product performance problems we may encounter, our dependence on sole or limited source suppliers, our ability to respond to rapid technological changes, our ability to maintain effective internal controls, the ability of our contract manufacturers to perform as we expect, a new technology being developed that replaces the PIC as the dominant technology in optical networks, general political, economic and market conditions and events, including war, conflict or acts of terrorism; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in our annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 19, 2008, our public announcements and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on information available to us as of the date hereof and we disclaim any obligation to update the forward-looking statements included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact Information: For further information: Media: Jeff Ferry Infinera Tel. +1-408-572-5213 jferry@infinera.com Investors: Bob Blair Infinera Tel. +1-408-716-4879 bblair@infinera.com