Don't say we didn't warn you, but Mike Quigley is officially leaving Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU).

Today AlcaLu announced the long-expected departure of Quigley, once Alcatel's president and COO, along with the not-so-expected departure of Frank D'Amelio, the company's chief administrative officer.

D'Amelio is taking the CFO job at Pfizer, which makes Pfarmaceuticals. And Quigley, whose final title at AlcaLu was President of Science, Technology and Strategy, has decided to leave the company and return to Australia, the company says in a statement today.

While definitely a bummer for the hordes of old Alcateliers loyal to Quigley, the analyst team at Dresdner Kleinwort notes that both Quigley and D'Amelio weren't being used to their potential by the current management team at AlcaLu. "In their current capacities, however, neither Quigley – renowned for his technology insights and project skills – nor D'Amelio – an articulate, numerate and powerful executive – had much influence on Alcatel-Lucent's operations," the analyst team writes in a note release today.

Not to say these gents weren't well liked and universally respected, but AlcaLu's CEO Pat Russo says their departures will be easily absorbed by the management ranks that remain.

"We are well served with a strong bench of top executive talent that we can draw upon as well as an extensive set of resources that we believe are unrivalled in the industry," says Russo, in a company statement.

While there's no doubt AlcaLu does have lots of talented managers, some can't help but wonder whether the departure of these two signals that something's amiss. Quigley and D'Amelio were the right-hand men to the CEOs of their previously standalone companies. And while Quigley's leaving was a little more expected, some analysts say its time to watch closely what's going on with AlcaLu.

"This is not a good sign for Alcatel-Lucent," says Heavy Reading analyst Sterling Perrin. "The loss of D’Amelio is much more surprising as he has been playing a critical role in the integration of the two companies, post merger, and I can’t see how this is a logical time to step down from that post."

Etienne Fouques, currently head of the Carrier Business Segment, will take over Quigley's Science, Technology and Strategy job, AlcaLu says in a statement. He will also oversee the Services Business that's headed by John Meyer.

Stepping in for Fouques at the Carrier Business Segment is Michel Rahier, the current head of the Wireline Business Group. AlcaLu says the individuals who previously reported to Fouques will now report to Rahier, so adjust your own org charts at home accordingly.

Christian Reinaudo, together with Janet Davidson, will take over Frank D'Amelio's job of making sure the Alcatel-Lucent integration is progressing as scheduled, while keeping the laugh-out-loud stories of corporate waste and confusion to a minimum.

AlcaLu shares were up $0.25 (2.35%) to $10.87 in mid-afternoon trading on Wednesday. The company's share price is down 24 percent year-to-date.

Quigley, a subject of many Light Reading articles and interviews, was always informative and a good sport, even when we were clearly getting on his nerves. Here's a quick recap of our Quigley coverage, starting with his promotion in 2005 to president and COO of Alcatel:

— Phil Harvey, Managing Editor, Light Reading