Le réseau anglais de Radio-Canada, CBC, a appris que 72 cadres de Nortel se sont partagé des augmentations en salaires et en bonus de 7,5 millions de dollars américains en 2009. De ce nombre, 14 vont recevoir des augmentations de plus de 0,5 M$ US.

1,68 million pour le dirigeant

Le plus important bénéficiaire de ce nouveau plan de compensation est l’ancien trésorier John Dolittle, qui a pris les rênes de l’entreprise en août dernier, après le départ de l’ancien directeur Mike Zafirovski. M. Dolittle voit ses compensations s’élever à 1,68 million, soit une augmentation de 1,12 million par rapport à 2008. Ce nouveau plan de compensation s’ajoute aux 45 millions de dollars versés à titre de prime de rétention et de bonus depuis le printemps dernier.

En juin dernier, Mike Zafirovski avait défendu sa décision de verser ces primes devant le comité des finances de la Chambre des communes, tout en refusant de verser des indemnités de départ à des centaines d'employés mis à pied et en diminuant les pensions versées aux retraités. M. Zafirovski a aussi tenté de faire valoir sa qualité de créancier devant une cour américaine en octobre dernier, réclamant 12 millions à l’entreprise, dont la moitié à titre de prestations de retraite. Sa demande est en examen.

Des créanciers non protégés

L’entreprise canadienne a déclaré faillite en janvier dernier et, de ce fait, a refusé de payer une indemnité de départ à plusieurs employés licenciés. Elle compte aussi mettre fin au versement d’indemnités à 410 employés en invalidité à long terme. Enfin, elle souhaite continuer de réduire les retraites de quelque 70 000 anciens employés.

Le déficit de l’entreprise était évalué entre 2500 et 2800  M$ en janvier dernier.

Nortel : Une faillite payante pour les cadres | Radio-Canada.ca

Il y a les primes au rendement et il y a les primes pour conserver les employés qu’on pourrait aussi appeler primes à la faillite pour les cadres supérieurs uniquement. Non seulement ils touchent quand ca marche bien mais ils touchent aussi des primes quand l’entreprise coule. Incroyable mais vraie !

YES, good show Ericsson!

Of all the glum news occurring lately about companies laying off employees along with uncertain economic times of employment – including mine – is awesome to see this news. Especially since Ericsson’s mobile partnership with Sony; Sony Ericsson laying off employees and closing offices in 3 United States.

Being a successful bidder in the auction of Nortel’s North American GSM/GSM-R business gives Ericsson contracts with AT&T & T-Mobile USA. This means not only will T-Mobile USA get to expidite their 3G deployment, or AT&T finally getting proper 3G/HSPA deployment and better bandwidth for a horribly congested network, but adding 350 employees!

Not too long ago many pensioners from Nortel faced off against Parlament here in Toronto, Ontario. I’m unsure of the outcome considering the following but it may shift a hand in these pensioners coming closure to a better retirement.

Nortel cries “poverty” this company has $2.6 billion in cash and up to $6 billion in cash after all its business sales

Canadian Labour Congress

Newswire

But that’s for another topic – not on this blog.

This deal means greater chances of LTE coming to North America at competitive prices for networks, meaning better monthly rates for users (I pray, but not always the case). The residual side affect of this deal – if approval from regulatory bodies allows – means possible SonyEricsson handsets being able to use decent mobile chipsets from Ericsson, not to mention many of the competition.

Ericsson Press

Along with our recent acquisition of Nortel’s CDMA and LTE assets, the transaction emphasizes Ericsson’s commitment to the North American market and strengthens our position as a leading provider of telecommunications technology and services in the United States and Canada” said Hans Vestberg, incoming President and CEO of Ericsson. “Our Ericsson family will be once again enriched by the addition of the valuable Nortel employees.”

The agreement includes the transfer of important GSM business with North American operators such as AT&T and T-Mobile. Under the agreement Ericsson will offer employment to approximately 350 employees from Nortel. Nortel’s North American GSM operations generated approximately USD 400 million in 2008.

(yeah I can’t sleep).

Ciena Corp. is the winning bidder for Nortel Networks’ optical networking and carrier ethernet businesses.

Ciena’s bid was worth $769 million US, about $248 million more than it initially bid in October.

The Maryland-based company emerged on top after a three-day auction in New York that began Friday. It beat out much larger telecom equipment maker Nokia Siemens.

Gary Smith, Ciena’s president and chief executive officer, said the acquisition of Ottawa-based Nortel would accelerate the company’s growth strategy.

Nokia Siemens outbid

“By combining these assets with Ciena’s existing resources, our collective customer base will be able to rely on one of the largest and most innovative companies strategically focused on converged ethernet networking,” Smith added in a statement.

Ciena will pay $530 million US in cash plus $239 million US principal amount of convertible notes due June 2017 to acquire the Nortel unit.

Nortel said it was pleased with the deal, particularly with Ciena’s commitment to retaining most of its employees.

“Ciena’s commitment to the future of our product platforms, customers and employees represents an exceptionally positive outcome to a challenging journey that started over a year ago,” said Philippe Morin, president of Nortel’s Metro Ethernet Networks.

“Uniting our two optical businesses is a game-changing event for the optical industry, creating a leader that has the end-to-end portfolio, industry innovation leadership, and significant global customer base to succeed in today’s highly competitive market,” Morin said.

The sale is subject to court approvals on either side of the border, which Nortel will seek at a joint hearing Dec. 2.

Nortel said it hopes to close the sale in the first quarter of 2010.

Rival bidder Nokia Siemens put out a statement Monday confirming it did not submit the highest bid. It said further bidding “could not be financially justified.”

Ciena announced Monday morning that a minimum of 2,000 Nortel employees will receive offers of employment.

That represents more than 85 per cent of the employees at Nortel’s global optical networking and carrier ethernet businesses.

The Canadian Press, 2009

Nashville business calendarApple passes Nokia as most profitable cellphone maker

Ciena (s cien) today beat out Nokia (S NOK) Siemens (S SI) Network to buy bankrupt Nortel’s metro Ethernet business for $769 million, winning the bidding war for the assets that it began in October. A court will still have to approve the deal that will see Ciena, which makes fiber optical equipment, pay $530 million in cash and issue $239 million in debt that will be due in 2017. The transaction will more than double Ciena’s sales when it closes in the first quarter of 2010.

Ciena reported fiscal 2008 sales of $902.4 million (it’s fiscal year ends Oct. 31). Sales for the first three quarters of fiscal 2009 were hit hard by the macroeconomic decline that began in September of 2008, and have totaled $476.3 million. The Nortel assets generated $1.36 billion in revenue for the Canadian company in 2008 and $556 million in the first six months of 2009, so Ciena is taking on a huge integration with this deal, which could more than double its sales and total employees (it’s expected to make job offers to at least 2,000 Nortel employees).

A motion to approve Ciena as the acquirer will be heard by bankruptcy courts in the U.S. and Canada on Dec. 2. Ironically, it was Nortel’s failure to sell its metro Ethernet business in September of last year that marked the beginning of the end for the venerable Canadian telecommunications firm.

Tellumat Telecoms, the converged communications specialist in the Tellumat Group and distributor of ShoreTel’s IP range, says the US vendor’s recent exploits corroborate the benefits that ShoreTel customers report in their own businesses.

In just one week leading into November, ShoreTel won the prestigious Nemertes Best IP Telephony (IPT) Provider award for the sixth time, and joined the select Deloittes Technology Fast 500 club.

Top IPT provider – value and technology stand out

Since Nemertes (www.nemertes.com) launched its independent survey of IPT providers in 2003, ShoreTel (founded 1998) has top-scored in every ratings category. This year it beat a field of 39 in the areas of Value; Customer Service; Technology; Management Tools; as well as Installation and Trouble-Shooting.

“ShoreTel’s key driver continues to be its value with a 4.31 rating out of 5,” the citation reads. “Low prices, a broad set of features, scalability, strong customer service and relatively uncomplicated deployment and troubleshooting all contributed to its win.”

The end-user-only research sample collectively praised ShoreTel’s “exceptional features”, its “highly resilient architecture” and its low upfront and ongoing costs. They add that the vendor’s distributed architecture offers redundancy at an affordable price and is easy to expand.

The interesting aspect of ShoreTel’s achievements is that it is one of a number of IP market ‘challengers’ in the survey, the award citation discloses. And yet, it has outdone all competitors, including the market leaders.

Challengers besides ShoreTel include Microsoft, Alcatel-Lucent, 3Com and Mitel. The ‘market leader’ group is brought up by Cisco, Avaya and Nortel.

For the full report, visit here.

Technology Fast 500

ShoreTel has further been ranked 228^th in Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 survey, having grown its revenue by 584% in the five years under consideration (2004 – 2008).

The award category rates the fastest-growing US companies in the IT, telecoms, life sciences and clean technology industries – a voluminous category with stellar performers.

ShoreTel’s CEO, John Combs, credits ShoreTel’s engineering ingenuity and customer satisfaction. “Our focus is on providing easy-to-manage, simple-to-use solutions, an architecture that is built for reliability and growth, and on earning customer satisfaction.”

Everyone will benefit

“Accolades don’t come much bigger and better than this,” says Bennie Langenhoven, managing executive of Tellumat Telecoms, which launched the ShoreTel range in South Africa in April 2009.

At the time, Langenhoven based his choice on the redundant distributed architecture of the ShoreTel platform, its simple business integration, scalability, manageability, high customer satisfaction index, low cost of ownership and ease of deployment and use.

“Nothing has changed since then,” he says. “What we liked then continues to rake in the accolades. Our customers, channel partners and everyone else involved in ShoreTel can only benefit from an ongoing association.”

Langenhoven notes that ShoreTel has been an excellent partner and is a very good fit with Tellumat Telecoms’ own strategy, bolstering our ability to provide support to our local partners and re-sellers.

View the full 2009 Technology Fast 500™ ranking at http://www.deloitte.com/us/2009Fast500winners.

My previous post “Who Killed Nortel?“, featured columnist James Bagnall presenting a very balanced view of the contributing factors to Nortel’s demise.  Time now for the corresponding ‘unbalanced’ view:

I think many people saw the original ‘Downfall’ youtube video, but many apparently didn’t know there was actually 12 of them! While these videos don’t express my personal views (do I have to say that again?), they are really funny, and the production values are pretty slick. They are based on the 2004 movie “Der Untergang” (German for ‘The Fall’), which provided a great canvas for this topic because it contains many profound Hitler rants (adeptly ranted by Bruno Ganz).

For those of you not familiar with the names referenced, Mr. Bagnall’s articles linked above are good background.  You will also be confused by both Hackney and Mike Z. both looking a lot like the Führer.

Part 1 – The Original: “There Will Be No New 3-5 Year Plan”

Part 2 – “Those Lousy Stinking Peasants!”

Part 3 – “Synergy My Ass”

Part 4 – “The ‘Free Press’ Won’t Let Us Do Our Jobs in Secret!”

Part 5 – “I Say: To Win You Must Quit!”

Part 6 – “Get In Line Behind the Other Creditors”

Part 7 – “Business Made Simple”

Part 8 – “Unfortunately, You Are Not a GE Man.”

Part 9 – “Who Are They to Tell Us What to Do With Their Money?”

Part 10 – “The Price You Ask For is Way Too High!”

Part 11 – “I believe… in Executive Bonuses.”

Part 12 – “Don’t You Understand? Nortel is Bankrupt! It’s Over!”

James Bagnall of the Ottawa Citizen has been covering Nortel for a long time, much longer than my time with the company.  It was with great interest that I heard from a co-worker that James was doing an 8-part series called “Who Killed Nortel?”.

Would it tell me things I didn’t know?  Would it point the finger at people I respected?  Would it conclude the collapse was due to bad luck, incompetence, or something more sinister?

Even knowing the series was on the Ottawa Citizen, I found it horribly hard to find the articles and then to navigate them (its improved a bit now that the series is complete).  To save you the same frustration, I collected them here:

• Investigating the death of a global titan
• Part 1 - Last things first: Bankruptcy protection
• Part 2 - A group of retired executives sign up for one last battle to save their former firm
• Part 3 - The beginning of the end
• Part 4 - Looking for a turnaround
• Part 5 - On the road to ruin
• Part 6 - The silence in the boardroom
• Part 7 - ‘The world turned upside down’
• Part 8 – The Man Who Wasn’t There
• After Nortel: Tech’s last chance

I found the series very enlightening.  It points to leadership apathy, a board that lacked knowledge of the telecom industry, bad luck, incompetence, and -of course- the well known financial scandals as contributing causes.

Now that you have seen the ‘balanced view’, you may want to check out the ‘unbalanced’ view for a laugh: Nortel’s Downfall – The Mini-Series

Sorry that I haven’t updated since I arrived at Ivey. As I type this I’m literally in the middle of a 24 hour Accounting Case at School, so really busy.

But procrastination is sometimes allowed so in my breaks I’ve been reading Jim Bagnalls excellent series on the demise of Nortel. Its been in the National Post this week and I assume the Ottawa Citizen as well.

I’d recommend it if you have some time.

There are 2 lines of business phones from Nortel,  Meridian and Norstar lines.  All the phones for the Meridian lines start with the letter M as in M3903, M3905, M7100B, M7208B, M7310B, M7324B.  The Norstar digital phone lines all start with the letter T like  T7100, T7208, T71316, T7316e, T7406e.  Both lines include corded and cordless phones.
 
The Business Series Terminal T7316 is a professional level, multi-line, telephone equipped with a two-line display. It’s specifically designed for the high-call-volume user, who typically requires a maximum amount of interactive information and a programmable set of buttons. Ideal users include managers, executives, other professionals, and office administrators.

The Nortel T7208 is well suited for lower internal and higher external calling volumes. The Nortel T7208 supports up to any combination of eight lines and frequently-used features.

The Nortel T7100 is the entry-level phone from Nortel’s Business Series Terminal line. The Nortel T7100 delivers Norstar functionality and reliability to areas or users with low-set usage requirements.
 
The Nortel CAP is also known as the Key Lamp Module (KLM). Up to 2 Nortel Central Answering Positions (CAP) can be added to an Nortel M7324 providing 48 or 96 additional programmable buttons. Use these to program features or autodial numbers, or as status indicators for designated lines and telephone sets. An expanded M7324 can accommodate up to 80 lines. Power Transformer required
 
The Nortel KIM Module attaches to the Nortel T7316E. It is a 24 button add-on module for either line or extention display.
The Nortel KIM Module will only work with Nortel systems release 6.1 or higher. It will not work on systems with a lower release.

Nortel T7406E Key Features:
2.4 GHz Spread Spectrum, Frequency Hopping
Battery Life 5 hrs (talktime) 36hrs (standby)
Range is 1000 feet clear line of sight
User density 1-8 utilizing 2 basestations
Backward compatibility and full feature/application integration with Norstar and Business Communications Manager
Handset features include handsfree/ speakerphone, vibrate/silent mode, 20 name directory, back light and message waiting options, signal strength indicator and out-of-range audible alert

The Nortel M7324 has 24 programmable buttons for lines, features, and autodial numbers, plus a two-line by sixteen-character LCD Window and softkeys, and is ideal for secretaries, receptionists, and other centralized call answering positions.
 
The Nortel Norstar M7310 has 10 programmable line or feature buttons, 12 dual-function memory buttons provide quick access to 24 additional frequently-used features or autodial numbers, and is ideal for users who often call the same customers, suppliers, or accounts. With its 2-line by 16-character LCD Window, and softkeys, the M7310 is extremely easy to use.

The Nortel M7100 is a single line telephone that delivers dependable functionality to users or areas with low usage requirements, like lobbies and breakrooms.

The Nortel M7100 telephone provides one programmable memory button and a feature button, along with the one-line by sixteen-character LCD Window
 
Jeff Dell is the owner of KeyPhonesDirect.com and they buy & sell new and refurbished Nortel Phones

Empolyed inside I.T. for most companies today almost always means in some degree you will have to pass a certification Exam. If you're a network engineer this stands for you will need to take a IBM Certification Examination. To take and take a Hyperion Solutions 70-620 Test is not an easy matter. Here I will write out some tips and advices on how you can pass your CompTIA certification Test Once.

There is usually three reasons why you would need to take a certification Test.

1. Your Boss requires you to take it – this is often need to justify the salary they are paying you and for managers to gauge your expertise level.

2. You want a new job – Many times having a Oracle certification on your resume will help get your foot in the door to a new company and new opportunities.

3. New career choice – You are wanting to start a new career and a certification is a great way to allow you to enter in to a new job field.

Most seasoned I.T. professional are well versed at certification exams. For Cisco there is the Lotus, CCDA, CCNP, and CCIE, plus numerous other exams including Security, Voice and Storage. Other vendors have certification tests as well. These teams include Microsoft, sun, Oracle, Linux, and Novell.

All of these tests are given at a special facility that is designed to administer the tests in a controlled environment. Nothing can be taken into the testing room while you take your test with the exception of two pieces of paper and a pencil provided by the testing center. Tests are delivered to workstations in the testing room that have been downloaded over the internet to the testing center.

Taking these tests can be very unnerving. However, passing these tests can be done by anyone. You simply need to invest in the study materials and time to get the job down.

The sure fire way to take these test:

To prepare for a CIW Certification Exam you should do the following.

Get a Good Study Book

Visit your local bookstore and look through the Cognos BI0-210 study guides. Find a book that is easy for you to read and makes sense. Every author writes differently and can convey technical details differently. You need to find an author that writes in a way that allow you to absorb the material.

Get Practice Examination Software

Next, you need to get a hold of a practice Test. There are many teams now that sell practice exams that will help you prepare for these difficult test. You need to buy a practice test that is focused on your particular Examination, for example the CompTIA Certification Exam.

Finally, read the book that you purchased once through, highlighting along the way key areas that you may want to come back to later to review.

Then, install your practice test software and take your first practice test. Don't worry you will most likely fail your first time through. Don't get discouraged, everybody does. Most practice test software will come will a bank of about 400 questions or more, each divided in to 4 practice tests. You need to take each practice test 4 times! After the 4th time (you should be passing by now- if now take them again until you do take) Lastly, take the final practice Test which will be the entire bank of 400 questions.

After this point you are ready to take the real Exam. Your head has swollen to a point you didn't believe it could swell to. Pick up the phone and call your local testing center to schedule your Exam. Take it as soon as possible.

Good luck! You can to it!

Nortel customers: Don’t panic yet – Network World.

Avaya is likely to consolidate product lines, eliminating some gear, but promises to continue support for several years and to devise a migration path for customers who own equipment that is phased out, said Stephen Leaden, president of Leaden Associates, who sat on a panel discussing what Nortel customers should do now that it is being bought by Avaya.

Nokia Siemens, a telecommunications equipment joint venture, plans to lay off up to 5,700 employees, or 7-9 percent of its work force, in order to cut about $740 million in costs. The company, which is a joint venture between Siemens (s si) and cell phone maker Nokia (s nok), will also whittle down to three business units from five. But you wouldn’t really get it after reading the headline on its press release which states, “Nokia Siemens Networks Targets Improved Financial Performance, Return to Growth.”

Look, I get that you probably don’t want to title your press release, “We’re Laying off 5,700 Workers,” but the headline chosen is too divorced from reality for my tastes. Emphasize the positive by all means, but the title amounts to wishful thinking, especially given the incredible difficulties the entire telecommunication equipment market faces. Remember Nortel (s nt)? Like that “Little Engine that Could,” Nokia Siemens may think it can, but this isn’t a children’s story, and it might not have a happy ending.

With intense competition coming from European competitors Alcatel-Lucent (s alu) and Ericsson (s eric) and even more fierce rivalry from the upstart Asian vendors, Huawei, and ZTE, selling telecom equipment is getting more cutthroat. The company is dragging down its backers, with Nokia marking down $1.4 billion of its investment in the joint venture during the most recent quarter, despite efforts a year ago to cut costs. Cutting costs is only going to take Nokia Siemens so far, and it’s not likely to get it over the hill into profitability and growth.