Hold the fanfare. Vendor giants Alcatel (NYSE: ALA; Paris: CGEP:PA) and Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: LU) have decided on their conjugal name: Once they're merged, the company will be called Alcatel Lucent. (See Alcatel, Lucent Seal Deal.)

News of the lackluster name came in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inviting Lucent shareholders to a meeting on September 7 in Wilmington, Del., to vote on the merger with Alcatel.

That filing notes: "The combined company created by this merger of equals will be renamed 'Alcatel Lucent,' with effect upon completion of the merger."

But is that the right choice? Take our new reader poll on the issue: What's in a Name?

In that same filing, Lucent CEO Pat Russo, who will also be CEO of the merged company, urges Lucent's shareholders to vote in favor of the marriage, as the merger's "approval and adoption requires the affirmative vote of the holders of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of Lucent common stock."

The filing notes that the merger is expected to be completed by the end of this year, or, by the very latest, March 31, 2007. If the deal isn't sealed by then, though, either party has the right to pull out.

The two companies have been fast-tracking the merger since it was announced in June, and have already announced which of their executives will perform the leading roles in the combined company. (See Lucatel Names More Execs, Lucatel: New Team, Old Faces, Quigley Steps Down as Lucatel COO, Inside Lucatel: Quigley's Not Mad at Pat, and Lucatel Clears Euro Hurdle.)

The duo's move has prompted further vendor consolidation, and more M&A activity is anticipated. (See Is Alcatel Moving on Nortel Mobile Assets?, Nokia, Siemens Create Networks Giant, Is Nortel the Old Maid in Telecom M&A?, and There's a New Bully on the Block.)

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading