8-K

                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM 8-K
                                 CURRENT REPORT
                     Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
                         Securities Exchange Act of 1934



                                September 3, 2003
                                -----------------
                Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported)



                                CIENA Corporation
                                -----------------
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)


          Delaware                    0-21969                23-2725311
(State or other jurisdiction  (Commission File No.) (IRS Employer Identification
     of incorporation)                                         No.)

                 1201 Winterson Road, Linthicum, Maryland 21090
                 ----------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)



               Registrant's telephone number, including area code:
                                 (410) 865-8500
                                 --------------


                                 Not applicable
                                 --------------
          (Former name or former address, if changed since last report)














Item 5.           Other Events and Regulation FD Disclosure.
- -------            -----------------------------------------

                  On September 3, 2003, CIENA Corporation issued a press release
announcing the completion of its acquisition of AKARA Corporation. The press
release is being furnished hereto as Exhibit 99.1.

Item 7.           Financial Statements and Exhibits.
- -------           -----------------------------------

                  99.1              Press Release dated September 3, 2003.


                                      -2-




                                   SIGNATURES

                  Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by
the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

                            CIENA CORPORATION


Date:  September 3, 2003    By:   /s/ Russell B. Stevenson, Jr.
                                  ----------------------------------------------
                                  Russell B. Stevenson, Jr.
                                  Senior Vice President, General Counsel and
                                  Secretary


                                      -3-

EX-99

                                                                    Exhibit 99.1
CIENA Announces Completion of AKARA Transaction

    LINTHICUM, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 3, 2003--CIENA(R)
Corporation (NASDAQ:CIEN), a leading provider of global network
solutions, today announced the completion of its acquisition of AKARA
Corporation pursuant to the terms of a merger agreement announced on
August 21, 2003. In the transaction, CIENA acquired all outstanding
shares of AKARA in exchange for $31 million in cash and approximately
2.3 million shares of CIENA common stock. The price paid in the
transaction was approximately $46.2 million, based on the closing
price of CIENA's common stock on August 29, 2003.
    AKARA is an emerging leader in the growing market of
SONET/SDH-based extended storage area networking (SAN), or
storage-over-distance solutions for enterprises and carriers. AKARA is
focused on the opportunity arising as medium and large businesses look
to meet higher data storage standards to ensure business continuity
and disaster recovery.
    AKARA will continue operations from the Ottawa, Ontario facility.

    ABOUT CIENA

    CIENA Corporation delivers innovative network solutions to the
world's largest service providers, increasing the cost-efficiency of
current services while enabling the creation of new carrier-class data
services built upon the existing network infrastructure. Additional
information about CIENA can be found at www.ciena.com.

    CONTACT: CIENA Corporation
             Press Contact:
             Denny Bilter or Aaron Graham
             877-857-7377
             email: pr@ciena.com
                 or
             Investor Contact:
             Suzanne DuLong or Jessica Towns
             888-243-6223
             email: ir@ciena.com