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Zhone's 2008 Customer Conference Attracts Record Global Participation

Attendees Representing Operators from 30 Countries Compare Notes on the Future of Network Access Around the World

Oakland, CA — May 28, 2008 — Zhone Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZHNE), a global leader in multi-service access solutions, wrapped up ZhoneTech 2008 last week, the company's customer and partner conference held in San Francisco. The conference attracted the broadest audience in its eight year history and featured keynotes from Google's Stephen Cho, Heavy Reading's senior analyst, Adi Kishore, and Harvard University's Doc Searls, author of The Cluetrain Manifesto. ZhoneTech opened with a gala reception at the Carnelian Room in San Francisco and featured a special celebrity appearance from legendary 49ers quarterback, Joe Montana, who spoke on the power of teams and the fundamental characteristics behind the winning spirit.

This year's ZhoneTech examined the sea changes underway in applications and end user behavior that are completely reshaping access demand. The operators in attendance exchanged views on how networks must evolve in response, and how to tap new opportunities these trends offer for creating greater customer value, including ways to increase the efficacy of the $450 billion the world spends on advertising every year. Other topics included multi-service platform innovations for fixed-mobile convergence as well as the newest developments in EFM and FTTx services. The conference wrapped up at Zhone's headquarters campus for exclusive demonstrations of forthcoming new products and tours of Zhone's Digital Living Room and $50 million R&D and test lab. ZhoneTech's platinum sponsors -- Cisco, MetaSwitch, Envivo, and Broadlight -- also showcased joint technology solutions on Zhone's market leading multi-service access platform and subscriber equipment suites.

"Our customers were effusive in their praise for the conference -- we were very pleased to see such a great mix of speakers and participants come together, enabling discussions that just wouldn't have happened any other way. It was particularly gratifying to see win-win application ideas develop, such as matching utilities' smart metering communication needs with telecom operators' needs to power FTTH termination at subscribers' homes," said Steven Glapa, vice president of marketing and product management and chair of this year's conference. "In addition to an important educational event, ZhoneTech provides an excellent networking opportunity for partners to forge alliances that strengthen the entire industry."

About Zhone Technologies -- Access for a Converging World

Zhone Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZHNE) is a global leader in multi-service access network solutions, serving more than 600 operators worldwide. The company offers the industry's broadest portfolio of fully-integrated access solutions, enabling the full range of multi-play services, including residential and business broadband, VoIP, IPTV, and Ethernet. Zhone's converged multi-service access platform improves network agility and reduces costs, allowing operators to rapidly deploy premium services on their existing copper as well as new fiber infrastructure while providing a seamless migration path to an efficient, all-IP network. www.zhone.com

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