Alcatel-Lucent
The company does business in 132 countries, with almost equal sales distribution coming from both its European and North American regions, and an additional third of its channel located elsewhere in the world. Alcatel-Lucent was formed after Alcatel's buyout of Lucent
History
Headquartered in Paris (France), rue de la Boétie, with significant operations in and around Paris, Alcatel-Lucent has a long history beginning in 1898 with the founding of Compagnie Générale d'Électricité (CGE). The original home of the company was the Alsace region and it still maintains R&D operations in the Strasbourg area. The current name, "Alcatel", comes from the acquisition in 1968 of Société Alsacienne de Constructions Atomiques, de Télécommunications et d' Électronique.
There were a number of mergers and acquisitions, as well as divestments since 1998. To understand the current company and its focus on telecommunications, the most important were the acquisition of the European telecommunications activities of ITT in 1986.
The combined companies were called Alcatel Alsthom. Alcatel maintains significant R&D presence in France (Paris region, Brittany, South of France), Antwerp (Belgium), at the former ITT operations there (Bell Telephone), in Stuttgart (Germany), in Italy (Vimercate, Genoa, Rieti,Trieste, Battipaglia), in India (Gurgaon, NOIDA and Chennai), since 2000 in Shanghai (China) and since 2005 in Saint-Petersburg (Russia).
Since 1990, various North American companies were acquired – Spatial Wireless, Rockwell Technologies, DSC Communications, Xylan, Packet Engines, Assured Access, Newbridge, iMagicTV, TiMetra, and eDial – giving Alcatel a strong U.S. and Canadian presence. Alcatel has its North American headquarters in Plano, Texas, and R&D operations in Ottawa, Ontario; Mountain View, California; Petaluma, California; Saint John, New Brunswick; Calabasas, California and Raleigh, North Carolina.
Areas of business
It is mostly well known for its DSL multiplexers, used for high-speed Internet access over ADSL and VDSL. It had over 40% of the world DSLAM market in 2007, with more than 143 million lines shipped. It has a partnership with Microsoft as of 2004 to provide IPTV services via its TPSDA (Triple Play Services Delivery Architecture) over DSL and using its 7x50 VPLS/MPLS routers and switches to service providers such as AT&T in the United States. It is also a leading provider of optical transmission equipment, especially for submarine communications cable. Genesys, a U.S. subsidiary, is a leading provider of call centre software.
Alcatel was also the world leader in point-to-point microwave radios and wireless transmission; with over 50 years expertise and over 17% of the global market share in 2005. It has a field-proven experience in deploying and managing wireless transmission networks and 2G, 2.5G, and 3G mobile backhauling.
Lucent buyout
On April 2, 2006, Alcatel announced a merger with its U.S. competitor, Lucent. The combined company, Alcatel-Lucent, was expected to have revenues of approximately $25 billion U.S. based on 2005 calendar results. [3]
The acquisition was completed on December 1, 2006.
From: Wikipedia
More info at Alcatel'>www.alcatel-lucent.com">Alcatel Official Website