All About Nortel - Latest Comments in Nortel to Rejig R&D

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

many — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:51:44 -0000

inalmm; Your first point has been true for a long time (20 years or more). The USA's chief export is standard of living.

That said, I detect a change in my customers attitude. I see that they have been playing around with services in their networks, seeing which demand high avaialblity, which do not. Which vendors can deliver product and services in a reasonable timeframe with reasonable quality. As well the tier one network providers will go to great expense to provide their network services to international roamers. The pool of available workers in the US is shrinking rapidly due to the generational change and operators pay lots of money to reduce the number of employees they depend on. It is not theory when I say equipment cost is not the main factor in the tier one and two networks in the US and Canada.

My experiance in asiapac has been different; cost is the major factor. This is especially true where labor is cheap and paying money to make a back office or network more efficent is higher than hiring more people. There are also cultual

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

inalmm — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:03:49 -0000

many: are you aware of the US trade deficit? US is importing more goods and services then it exports. your theory seems irrelevant whit that respect. cost efficiency is the key factor.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Observer — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:17:37 -0000

Here is a link to Roese's blog

http://blogs.nortel.com/ctoblog/2008/03/28/the-...

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Observer — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 16:16:47 -0000

Yes its about royalties but the truth of the matter is most patent litigation in telecom ends up in cross licensing agreements where many companies win. See Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nokia, Motorola and Intel for these. And at its core, no one at the USPTO really knows the differences between any one of these patents as there is so much overlap in what they grant without realizing it. This is why a company like Vonage can get sued repeatedly by Nortel, Broadcom and others and be forced to settle out of court. Yes its PR but its also revenue from cross licensing agreements.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

ex-nortel^2 — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:37:09 -0000

Royalties, gentlemen. It's about _royalties_. Not the _number_ of patents generated. Patents generating revenue are what is important. To our small company, anyway.

I've seen small groups play round robin on who gets first name in the patent application and churn them out on every trivial little thing they come up with. They do get recognition internally, and it helps them keep their jobs. But in the real world there is no real contribution in any meaningful way. The granted and applied for patents are just good for PR.

Our small company has interviewed applicants with quite a number of patents listed on their resume. But when we inquire about royalties these patents have generated, or verifiable revenue generated from them, You hit a brick wall. I've had a single exception, and he works for us now.

It's all PR for a company like Nortel. It's only PR.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Observer — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:15:01 -0000

Both. Nortel has many many patents in wireless and optical technologies for next generation networks that have been filed and awarded over the last few years.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

NewBlue — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:58:40 -0000

Filings? Or awards?

You can file patents all day long, but if they a) aren't actually awarded, and/or b) don't result in any new product development, then our innovators and visionaries aren't all they are cracked up to be.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Observer — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 22:58:40 -0000

There are no technical visionaries left. There are those who think they are, but results would say there isn't.
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The number of patent filings from Nortel would say otherwise. Still in the top 5 in the industry.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

ex-nortel^2 — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 18:33:07 -0000

Yes NewBlue, that's what I get from the couple of contacts I have left there.

Hey, we're looking for good scientists!

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Observer — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:36:04 -0000

I think Mark is correct on Nortel's true motives for overhauling its R&D structure - economics.
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And there's nothing wrong with this. We live in a global economy now and forever. Instead of going against the current and fighting the tsunami its much easier to go with it and leverage it for your benefit if the right approach is used.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

NewBlue — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:31:35 -0000

"Roese is talking about cutting into the absolute marrow of the company, the researchers, the cream of the company that drives innovation."

Ha! Clearly, Nortel has already jettisoned this part of the organization, since there is no innovation today and hasn't been any since...when? The only truly successful products have been acquisitions. Nortel hasn't actually created anything truly new and successful in probably 6 or more years. There are no technical visionaries left. There are those who think they are, but results would say there isn't.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Observer — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:31:04 -0000

US and Canadian engineers will be undoubtedly replaced or do you actually think Nortel has the resources to dole out attractive ex-pat packages to hundreds of its engineers?
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Who says they have to move ? Instead of being purely technical why not have some of them manage and/or architect solutions that folks overseas can execute ? Yes maybe there is a little travel involved but then again maybe its good for the person in North America to embrace new experiences rather than doing the same old job the same old way. This is what companies like IBM do best an put out more products for all sorts of different customers.

All I'm suggesting is leveraging the abundance of technical talent of the globe more efficiently to put out more products with lesser overhead than would be required in North America. Everyone here seems to think globalization is a zero sum game but it isn't if the right models are applied. Some companies are already doing this successfully and making a ton of money doing it.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

ex-nortel^2 — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:16:26 -0000

buffonery wrote:
"Also make certification as well as testing mandatory for the workforce. if you cannot code too bad. i have seen enough hoorror stories of 'experience', 'architects', 'team leaders' who cannot write an iota of code."

I'm a bit confused. These changes are for the engineers doing research, not the programmers in product development. Different set of beasts entirely.

Roese is talking about cutting into the absolute marrow of the company, the researchers, the cream of the company that drives innovation. Sending the scut work of programming overseas I can at least see some upper level manage being able to justify it, right or wrong. But wacking the scientists and engineers doing fundamental research makes no sense that I can see. It may cut costs but at such a tremendous cost to a company which claims such "excellence."

It's sad to see. And more talent will simply flow out because of an even more poisoned environment.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

many — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:03:47 -0000

CMM level 5 is another metric that means not very much out of context.

First there is no external body actually doing the certification. It is an "honest" self assessment.

Second it is yet a another "software factory" approach to development that is process focused (good) but does nothing to address requirements (bad) and in most cases ends up being a set of "best practices". UML (for example) at least concentrates on the user rather than the organization.

Third how can anything of value be assessed in such short periods of time? Krishnamurthy Kothandaraman must have been a very busy fellow eh? Tumu Satish Kumar must have been almost as busy as well? Rajiv Nag a little less so, but none the less all are remarkable how many have been certified an such a short period, eh? I can't imagine when they slept.

I don't know about you but it gives me the sense that perhaps there might be a bit of a "factory" consulting operation in telling companies they are CMM level 5?

Just a thought.

I was simply sorting on "Team Leader" at
http://sas.sei.cmu.edu/pars/pars.aspx?s=&m=0

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

centthoughts — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:00:25 -0000

Observer,

....Mark - your interpretation above is just plain wrong. I for one believe Nortel will ask people in North America to run programs done overseas using their technical and managerial skills (yes both are necessary).......

I think Mark is correct on Nortel's true motives for overhauling its R&D structure - economics. US and Canadian engineers will be undoubtedly replaced or do you actually think Nortel has the resources to dole out attractive ex-pat packages to hundreds of its engineers?

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Another Nortel Watcher — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:31:53 -0000

tleaf - John Roese has no experience running a large multi-site R&D organization. His speeches are based in theory, just like a University professors. Don't assume that anything John Roese says will translate to action and results until you see it happening. So far, he is all talk and no show. The analyst dialog is not positive.

All - On the increasingly regular topic of offshore R&D, I will say again: if you throw stuff over the fence to a foreign subcontractor, don't expect to get much in the way of quality output in return. On the other hand, if you build part of your team in a foreign lab and include them as equals, you will reap the rewards. The difference between success and failure is all in how it's managed. Attitude and management are the ingredients for success.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Nortelhand — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:22:09 -0000

Wake up!! NA does not have a key to brains. There are very good engineers from all parts of the world, and to be honest I find their produciton is higer than most NA engineers. Enough said.

world traveler, expat.

Now get this pigs stock price UP with whatever means necessary Mike Z, and soon!!!

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

NortelGlobalCo. — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:11:23 -0000

Its not by benevolence of north American executives that jobs are moving to Bangalore and Beijing. Its their lust for more profits. Its investors lust for more dividends.Its a global market. Companies will hire at lower wages. Employees will work at wages they deem commensurate with their skills and local market conditions. There is no empirical evidence that ALL engineers in North America are better than ALL their Asian counterparts. There is good and bright , bad and incompetent in every society. IBM alone hires 60000 in India. Brightest there will work for better companies. Pay more and they will join Nortel. Again just like how it is here in North America. Again free market economics at work. Nortel is a global company. Stop blaming the executives. They are only acknowledging the reality of globalization. Nortel is changing for the good.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Observer — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:54:05 -0000

By the way, which country has the most CMM Level 5 organizations ? Here's a hint. Its not the US, Canada or any other western country.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

Observer — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:52:19 -0000

How come no mentions when Cisco forces half of its top executives to move to Bangalore and opens a giant R&D center there ? So if Cisco does it its good and when anyone else does its bad ? I think many on this board are out of touch with what's going on in the rest of the world in terms of talent, motivation and skillset. Any engineer for any company in North America who thinks he or she can sit in their comfy little cube in North America and make a living for the rest of their career is sorely out of touch with reality. The companies that have leveraged the globe to put out more products are the ones that have benefitted the most (see IBM, Oracle and Microsoft)

Mark - your interpretation above is just plain wrong. I for one believe Nortel will ask people in North America to run programs done overseas using their technical and managerial skills (yes both are necessary). So instead there is a fairly good chance that the total number of products goes up as capital gets deployed more efficiently by using Asia to scale up or down as programs start and finish. Some employees will flourish at this while others will just fail to understand industry and global dynamics and be repeatedly laid off while trying to be engineers. You can run from the tsunami but eventually it will catch up to you.

The definition of insanity is one that does the same thing over and over again and expects a different result.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

buffoonery — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:58:04 -0000

actually here is a suggestion to Z-eroman on reducing costs. layoff all the VP's, promote one level, fire all the senior managers and line managers replacing with very talented team leaders. Also make certification as well as testing mandatory for the workforce. if you cannot code too bad. i have seen enough hoorror stories of 'experience', 'architects', 'team leaders' who cannot write an iota of code.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

buffoonery — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:52:12 -0000

the buffoonery and tomfoolery continues. good luck. none of these guys including Z-ero have any experience in the industry or leading at such a level. what can you expect?

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

buckpost — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:11:59 -0000

Thanks for the insight. Good to get some perspective from someone who was there and works for Nortel.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

many — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:19:43 -0000

tleaf. Great idea! What a concept. too bad nortel hasn't been taking a proper inventory of the people it had, their skills all along.

Re: Nortel to Rejig R&D

many — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:17:10 -0000

Ex-Nortel this is soemwhat true for Ciscos L1 and L2 products (however there are reliability, survivability, power etc. requiremnts for these products that are different depending on the market). The layers and management/billing requirements above transport and network are very different. I have seen first hand that priceand deployment considerations kill a product developed for one market trying to break into another. I hope you get my point ....to begin to underesatnd that customer requirements, price points and capabilities are different in different markets and "one size fits all" products is old think.