Clarendon closes, Leopold leaves Merrill Lynch, Alltel & MCI keep cutting, OFC gets more international
February 2, 2004
Here's what one football fan had to say about last night's Super Bowl halftime show: "I am outraged at what I saw... Our nation’s children, parents, and citizens deserve better."
That was Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell, in a statement to the press. The FCC is investigating the halftime show, the highlight of which was the exposure of one of Janet Jackson's breasts. Wow, just think what could have happened if the show had included Joe Namath!
No word yet on whether the breast exam will sidetrack the FCC's progress in explaining its Triennial review or helping carriers speed up broadband deployments nationwide.
We are sure, however, that it is time to bump and grind our way through another series of hirings and firings from the telecom biz.
Clarendon Photonics Inc., a components maker specializing in reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs), has closed, according to sources close to the company. Clarendon was first funded in July 1999 and was backed by Sevin Rosen Funds, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and others to the tune of more than $16 million. Calls to the company weren't returned.
Just after announcing increased revenues for 2003, Alltel Corp. (NYSE: AT) said it would cut between 400 and 600 jobs and take a one-time charge of about $15 million during the first quarter of 2004. The company says its restructuring will be finished later this month.
MCI (Nasdaq: WCOEQ, MCWEQ) expects to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month. As it does, the company is continuing to make cuts in offices around the nation; it will cut 1,700 in all.
The treasury officer for Redback Networks Inc.'s (Nasdaq: RBAK) finance group, Indira Vemala, has left the company, according to a source close to the company. Calls to Redback were not returned.
Financial analyst Simon Leopold has left Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. to join Morgan Keegan & Company Inc., where he will continue covering telecom equipment and related technologies. Thank goodness he didn't end up at J.T. Marlin.
Regional ISP Internet America Inc. is suing Gary Corona, one of its two directors, alleging that he had shared confidential information about Internet America to a handful of shareholders. The company is seeking a temporary restraining order to keep Corona from sharing so much. Internet America, Dallas's oldest ISP, counts Santa Claus as a customer.
Quarry Technologies Inc. has named John Osanitsch as its new VP of sales and service and Zbigniew Opalka as its new VP of engineering. The names of the two appointees carry a combined Scrabble score of 59,034 -- a new record for security equipment startups.
OFC kicks off in three weeks and is tracking to be roughly the same size as it was last year. In 2003, the conference had nearly 900 exhibitors, with more than 25 percent of them coming from outside the U.S. So far this year, OFC has registered 625 exhibitors, but with a much higher -- 40 percent -- proportion of international delegates.
Here are some of the other appointments and disappointments from the past several days:
Li Quits Procket
Juniper Goes Indian
TDC Cuts Nearly 500 Jobs
KPN Cuts 800 Jobs
Continental Carriers Continue to Cull
Arescom Packs Board
Radvision Appoints COO
Ingate Hires Marketing Director
Servgate Bags $18M Funding
JDSU Hires M&A Guy
Inclarity Names New CTO
Laurel Appoints Don Pyle as CEO
Natural Convergence Appoints CEO
Verio Names New CEO
That's all the fancy dancin' we can stand to do right now. Please continue to send your news tips to [email protected] so we can stay ahead of who's-going-where in the industry. And if you have any suggestions on how the FCC can keep from looking like (or looking at) boobs, send those along as well.
— Phil Harvey, Senior Editor, Light Reading
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