ONI Systems Wins SUPERQuest Award for Most Promising New Optical Networking Technology


ATLANTA, June 5, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- ONI Systems Corp. (Nasdaq:ONIS), a leading provider of optical telecommunications systems for metropolitan and regional markets, today announced that its ONWAVE(tm) SONET/SDH Framed Data Add/Drop Multiplexer for the ONLINE2500 Edge Service Platform has won the SUPERQuest Award for Most Promising New Public Network Technology in the category of Optical Transmission. Jointly sponsored by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the United States Telecom Association (USTA), the SUPERQuest Awards recognize the year's best-built networks and the most promising new technologies among SUPERCOMM exhibitors and their customers.

The SUPERQuest Awards have earned a top spot among the honors given to the competitive and innovative communications industry. Winners for the awards were announced during a ceremony on June 4 at SUPERCOMM 2002 in Atlanta, Georgia.

"We are honored by our selection as the most promising new optical networking technology for public networks. The SUPERQuest Award is a great validation, on an industry-wide level, for our company and products. We are pleased that the judges recognized the promise and value that ONI's solutions bring to enterprise and carrier networks, and we thank TIA and USTA for the award," said Hugh Martin, chairman, president and CEO of ONI Systems.

The ONWAVE SONET/SDH Framed Data Add/Drop Multiplexer is designed to overcome wide area network (WAN) limitations for data protocols, such as Fibre Channel (FC), FICON and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The latest addition to the ONWAVE family of products enables service providers and enterprises to interconnect storage area networks (SANs) and Ethernet local area networks (LANs) over thousands of kilometers via the existing global SONET/SDH infrastructure.

The ONLINE2500 Edge Service Platform combines coarse WDM technology with multi-service grooming capabilities in a compact, modular architecture. The ONLINE2500 advances the state-of-the-art in optical networks by enabling a new cost structure for delivering high bandwidth services like Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel and traditional SONET services via WDM wavelengths to the edge of the network.

Both the ONWAVE SONET/SDH Framed Data Add/Drop Multiplexer and the ONLINE2500 Edge Service Platform are generally available today. For more information about ONI Systems products at SUPERCOMM 2002, please visit booth No. 31406 in Hall A.

About SUPERCOMM

SUPERCOMM is the world's premier annual communications industry event. The conference addresses every segment of global communications through exhibits and educational sessions. SUPERCOMM is presented jointly by the Telecommunications Industry Association and the United States Telephone Association.

About ONI Systems

ONI Systems (Nasdaq:ONIS) develops, markets and sells optical networking equipment specifically designed to address bandwidth and service limitations of regional and metropolitan networks. Our products allow communication service providers to rapidly build high-capacity networks that are flexible, scalable and able to support multiple services on a single platform. ONI's headquarters is located at 5965 Silver Creek Valley Road, San Jose, CA 95138. For additional information about ONI and its products, visit the company Web site at www.oni.com.

ONI Systems, ONI, the ONI logo, ONLINE, OPTX, OLMP and ONWAVE are trademarks or registered trademarks of ONI Systems Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbor created by this section. Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, our limited operating history which makes forecasting our future revenue and operating results difficult, unfavorable economic and market conditions which could cause our existing and potential customers to delay or forgo purchases of our products, risks associated with our proposed merger with CIENA Corporation, our ability to develop and to achieve market acceptance of new products, our dependence on a small number of customers and our ability to add additional customers. These and other risks and uncertainties are described in ONI Systems' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including ONI Systems quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2002, ONI Systems annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001, and other documents on file with the SEC.


            

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