Nortel Ramps Up China R&D

After CTO John Roese unveiled that Nortel’s (NT) R&D activities would be re-focused, Nortel provides some more details about what’s happening.

The highlight - and this should come as no surprise - is that more R&D will be happening in China involving all four of the company’s business units. For Canadians worried about Nortel’s extensive R&D operations, Ottawa and its 5,000 engineers will remain a “full service unit” for the carrier, business network, software and service units.

Meanwhile, nine centers have been identified in the U.S., Ireland, England, Turkey, India and Korea while four “specialty sites” with a narrow focus will be in Canada, the United States and France.

So now for the quote of the day:

We’re not trying to be all things to all people,” said David Hudson, Nortel’s vice-president of portfolio management. “That kind of focus, around a core set of technology assets, I think is important. It says we’re … going to matter for a few really important things and we’ll work with partners for the rest.

Trying to be all things to all people has been one of Nortel’s biggest strategic issues since the telecom boom went bust. Why it took the company so long to embrace this reality is puzzling but if you’re one of those people looking for good news, this could be something to get excited about.

For more coverage, check out the Ottawa Citizen.