Unfiltered

Nortel Networks’ (NYSE: NT) first-quarter financials were bleak — no surprise for a company under extended bankruptcy protection that is looking to sell itself off in chunks. What may be surprising, though, is the relative strength of the company’s optical business. (more…)

Aktino, the vendor of line-bonding access equipment, has been acquired by Positron, a vendor of Sonet-based access gear. (more…)

More bad news for Fairpoint Communications (NYSE: FRP). (more…)

Occam Networks (Nasdaq: OCNW), considered to be a likely beneficiary of federal broadband stimulus initiatives, reported today that it is cutting 10% of its staff amid a sales slowdown it attributes in part to customers slowing purchases due to uncertainty over broadband stimulus allocation. (more…)

It’s another rebuilding year for Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU).

“Things are not off to a great start for Alcatel-Lucent,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue wrote after the vendor’s first-quarter earnings report today. “Challenged segments remain carrier and enterprise, although there were some bright spots in IP and WCDMA. Application software grew in the mid-single-digit rate (at constant currency), while services continue to chug along, growing in the high teens. North America saw the biggest rate of revenue decline, down 28% year over year.”

A notable aspect of the company’s rebuilding is its reduction in research and development (R&D) spending, particularly in the back half of the year, as it looks to partners to help carry the load of innovation. Though Alcatel-Lucent’s R&D spending increased 3% sequentially in the first quarter, the vendor said it will decrease as the year goes on, particularly in the second half. (more…)

Acme Packet’s $23-million acquisition of Covergence – both announced and closed today – gives Acme Packet (NASDAQ:APKT) a quick jump in the enterprise market for session border controllers (SBCs) to add to its existing base in the service provider market. And Covergence’s software-only SBC gives Acme a particular foothold in the low end of the enterprise market.
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Will your job be around five years from now? If so, how different will the work be?

The technologies that course through the network are changing dramatically, demanding entirely different skill sets and expertise. What was Sonet and ATM is becoming Ethernet. What was a central office (CO) is becoming a data center, a video hub, a content cache. So what about the people that work there?
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Texas state agencies are jointly issuing a request for information for providers that can help win broadband stimulus funds to link up the state’s unserved and underserved.

The RFI, viewable here, asks experienced applicants for help in mapping the state’s broadband availability gaps, planning ways to spur demand for online applications and “work[ing] collaboratively with broadband service providers and information technology companies to encourage [broadband] deployment and use.”

It hints at a definition of “underserved areas” as “areas in which broadband penetration is significantly below the national average.”

The deadline for sumissions is May 15.

Though recent comments from major carriers suggest an improved spending environment going forward, Tellabs CEO Rob Pullen isn’t holding his breath.
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Signs are emerging that US carrier spending is slowly starting to recover.
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