Jones Lang LaSalle
Lucent Technologies
The 2,300 employees at Lucent Technologies' campus in the Whippany section of Hanover do not know what will happen to them after the New Providence-based company's merger with Paris-based Alcatel.
Lucent workers in Hanover face uncertainty after deal
Sales philosophy could determine what happens to 2,300 based in Morris
BY TIM O'REILEY
DAILY RECORD
HANOVER -- How Lucent Technologies' office and 2,300 employees in Hanover fare after its merger with Alcatel could hinge on sales philosophy.
A year ago, Lucent redrew its organizational chart to create the Network Solutions Group and placed its headquarters in its sprawling complex in the Whippany section of town. The group includes sales, administrative and engineering functions.
In doing so, Lucent put its previously separate landline and wireless communications equipment divisions under one umbrella.
Not only was this promoted as a way to continue the relentless cost-cutting that has marked the four-year tenure of chief executive Patricia F. Russo, but also as a way to adapt to a market where traditional distinctions were fading.
Rather than sell just one type of equipment or another, Lucent found that more and more of its customers among major telecommunications service providers wanted combinations that would be assembled into coherent packages. often called convergence in the industry.
Paris-based Alcatel, by contrast, has remained structured in separate landline and wireless groups, plus another for customers not in the telecommunications business.
At a press conference Monday, neither Russo, who will move to Paris as chief executive of the still-unnamed combined company, nor Serge Tchuruk, Alcatel's chairman and chief executive who will become the nonexecutive chairman, laid out details on post-merge opportunities.
They estimated that 8,800 positions of a total workforce of 88,000 would be cut within two years of the merger's completion, but they brushed aside questions based on speculation about locations or divisions.
Lucent spokesman John Skalko said the company's Hanover offices also house a contingent focused on research and development of wireless products.
While Alcatel also sells wireless products, industry analysts rate Lucent as having the lead in the sector while Alcatel is stronger in broadband transmission over wires, such as DSL internet service.
If layoffs do strike Hanover, it would be the continuation of the trend that has shriveled Lucent's presence in Morris County by almost two-thirds since 2000, the highwater mark for the company during the industry bubble that quickly burst.
Since it employed 6,300 people in the county in 2000, Lucent has slashed and vacated offices here much as it has done in New Jersey and the entire company.
The Hanover office is one of the last tangible ties to the old AT&T.
The 37-acre site was purchased by AT&T in 1926, when it was farmland with a barn and a few sheds for the nascent Bell Laboratories.
While Bell Labs had a large presence there for decades, it has been supplanted by other function.
Lucent Technologies
The 2,300 employees at Lucent Technologies' campus in the Whippany section of Hanover do not know what will happen to them after the New Providence-based company's merger with Paris-based Alcatel.
Lucent workers in Hanover face uncertainty after deal
Sales philosophy could determine what happens to 2,300 based in Morris
BY TIM O'REILEY
DAILY RECORD
HANOVER -- How Lucent Technologies' office and 2,300 employees in Hanover fare after its merger with Alcatel could hinge on sales philosophy.
A year ago, Lucent redrew its organizational chart to create the Network Solutions Group and placed its headquarters in its sprawling complex in the Whippany section of town. The group includes sales, administrative and engineering functions.
In doing so, Lucent put its previously separate landline and wireless communications equipment divisions under one umbrella.
Not only was this promoted as a way to continue the relentless cost-cutting that has marked the four-year tenure of chief executive Patricia F. Russo, but also as a way to adapt to a market where traditional distinctions were fading.
Rather than sell just one type of equipment or another, Lucent found that more and more of its customers among major telecommunications service providers wanted combinations that would be assembled into coherent packages. often called convergence in the industry.
Paris-based Alcatel, by contrast, has remained structured in separate landline and wireless groups, plus another for customers not in the telecommunications business.
At a press conference Monday, neither Russo, who will move to Paris as chief executive of the still-unnamed combined company, nor Serge Tchuruk, Alcatel's chairman and chief executive who will become the nonexecutive chairman, laid out details on post-merge opportunities.
They estimated that 8,800 positions of a total workforce of 88,000 would be cut within two years of the merger's completion, but they brushed aside questions based on speculation about locations or divisions.
Lucent spokesman John Skalko said the company's Hanover offices also house a contingent focused on research and development of wireless products.
While Alcatel also sells wireless products, industry analysts rate Lucent as having the lead in the sector while Alcatel is stronger in broadband transmission over wires, such as DSL internet service.
If layoffs do strike Hanover, it would be the continuation of the trend that has shriveled Lucent's presence in Morris County by almost two-thirds since 2000, the highwater mark for the company during the industry bubble that quickly burst.
Since it employed 6,300 people in the county in 2000, Lucent has slashed and vacated offices here much as it has done in New Jersey and the entire company.
The Hanover office is one of the last tangible ties to the old AT&T.
The 37-acre site was purchased by AT&T in 1926, when it was farmland with a barn and a few sheds for the nascent Bell Laboratories.
While Bell Labs had a large presence there for decades, it has been supplanted by other function.
posted by Jones Lang LaSalle NJ News Blog at 2:17 PM
<< Home