LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES UNVEILS ULTRA-HIGH-CAPACITY OPTICAL SYSTEM.

Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) and Time Warner Telecom Inc. (Nasdaq: TWTC) have signed an agreement to deploy the newest Lucent optical networking system, which has the capacity to enable every person in the United States and Canada to simultaneously transmit a one-page e-mail across the same

Under the terms of the agreement, Time Warner Telecom, a leader in providing local and regional optical broadband networks and services to business customers, will be among the first to deploy the Lucent WaveStar OLS 1.6T, an ultra-high-capacity dense wave division multiplexing (DWDM) system. This new technology will enable Time Warner Telecom to dramatically expand the capacity of its network. The three-year agreement is valued at up to $100 million.

Initially, Lucent is delivering and installing the system with the capacity of 800 gigabits (billion bits) per second (Gb/s). At this rate, a single fiber in Time Warner Telecom's network could transmit the data contained on some 160 CD ROMs each second. The system Time Warner Telecom is purchasing includes a combiner/splitter that makes it "terabit ready." This means a carrier can double its network capacity to 1.6 terabits (a trillion bits) per second, without interrupting service, when its bandwidth requirements call for such a capacity boost.

"Our business customers rely on us to stay ahead of their skyrocketing demand for broadband capacity," said Mike Rouleau, Time Warner Telecom senior vice president for marketing and business development. "Lucent's continuing advances in technology and its experience in integrating networks help make it possible for us to deliver industry-leading capacity and premier services and solutions to our customers."

Lucent's Worldwide Services is engineering, installing and integrating the Lucent systems into Time Warner Telecom's western region network supporting Los Angeles; San Francisco; Oakland, Calif.; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Boise, Idaho; Las Vegas and Phoenix. Much of the network in the western states was recently acquired by Time Warner Telecom in its $690 million purchase of assets from the bankruptcy of GST Telecommunications Inc. Deployment is already underway in phases in the western states and is expected to be completed by mid-2001.

"This is a tremendous endorsement for our industry-leading optical transmission systems," said Tim Gropp, Lucent sales vice president. "Lucent is pleased to continue its long-term relationship with Time Warner Telecom. Enabling communications at the speed of light takes a commitment to deliver the technology almost as quickly. Lucent's Optical Networking Group is committed to doing just that, and our customers are now reaping the benefits."

The Lucent WaveStar OLS 1.6T architecture provides Time Warner Telecom a scaleable, flexible solution for long-haul applications and builds on the technology platform of the Lucent WaveStar OLS 400G -- a DWDM system that offers up to 400 Gb/s of capacity. DWDM technology increases network capacity by transmitting multiple wavelengths -- or colors -- of light across a single fiber, with each wavelength carrying a distinct stream of information.

In April 2000, Lucent announced the WaveStar OLS 800G -- an upgrade to the 400G system that uses DWDM to provide up to 320 2.5-Gb/s wavelengths or 80 10-Gb/s wavelengths for a total capacity of 800 Gb/s. The WaveStar OLS 800G is generally available today, and can be purchased with a combiner/splitter that makes it "terabit ready" -- meaning a network provider can upgrade to the new Lucent WaveStar OLS 1.6T without service interruption.

The WaveStar OLS 1.6T, which will be generally available in spring 2001, offers up to 160 10-Gb/s wavelengths for a total capacity of 1.6 Tb/s on one fiber. That is the equivalent of transmitting 320 million one-page e-mails per second. This is achieved by using the company's leading-edge "L-Band" optical amplifier, which enables network providers to transmit traffic through a previously unused frequency, or wavelength range, in a fiber. Using the amplifier and combiner/splitter to open up this previously untapped bandwidth, the network provider can double the number of wavelengths transmitted on the fiber from 80 to 160.

As part of the new agreement -- an expansion of an existing $250 million agreement between the two companies dating back to 1998 -- Lucent also will provide its WaveStar Network Management System. This software system will provide Time Warner Telecom with centralized control and a comprehensive set of features for the management of its DWDM network.