re: Is Qwest Shunning Startups?1. I didn't think Qwest people where doing the testing. This has all been outsourced to Calllsima. (I am sure that Becker received many Callisma Pre-IPO options) 2. The reason that Lightreading couldn't reach Becker was because he was on vacation. 3. He could be on vacation with Callisma signing another deal.
re: Is Qwest Shunning Startups?I'm also a true NORTEL fan and shareholder and currently work for a startup.
While I'm really pulling for NORTEL I'm not sure anyone can claim they will be the strongest coming out of this crappy market.
They still haven't proven to anyone that they've turned the ship around. Every week we continue to hear the same BS from the current managment team that got us into this mess. They really need to make some serious organizational changes starting at the top. I still have alot of friends employed at NORTEL and they can't beleive the amount and quality of the managment team. A serious case of to many bean counters and not enough grunts.
All we can do is hope for the best. But a serious shakeup needs to happen before there's any hope at all.
Regarding startups the market isn't in there favour but the only hope is to survive this downturn and get purchased.
re: Is Qwest Shunning Startups?Slightly off the topic, but related to the great days of inventions (patents) - it clearly shows that we have still a lot to invent. Take a look at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi...
I once worked as a consultant at Nortel and Lucent and quickly realised that if people stay more than 1 year in those companies, they become brain dead and brain washed and think that Nortel/Lucent are the best thing since sliced bread.
They dont realize that politics has become more important the technology. That people have cubicle fights over seniority to get closer to the window or gain a slightly bigger cubicle.
Now don't get me wrong, I knew a lot of good engineers at these companies. The problem is that their efficiency and creativity get shut down by the politics. After a while, they have to play the political game too. It's not about designing anymore.
I would compare Nortel/Lucent to a once young and healthy teenager, that started eating too much. Once he passed the 300 pounds point, he could not do what it used to do anymore. The only solutions were either to go through a painfull diet or keep doing what he was doing.. eating too much. Eventually, he reaches 800 pounds and dies suffocating under his own weight.
That's exactly what is happening with Nortel/Lucent. It could have started a diet many years ago, but instead chose to go on. Now it's slowly suffocating.
ps: I do not work for a doomed startup. Are you are working for a doomed Nortel/Lucent? Hope not..
re: Is Qwest Shunning Startups?Instead of laying off more people. Why doesn't Qwest put their people in the test lab instead of a consulting firm? Or do the Qwest people not know how to test new equipment? If they can't test it themselves then how do they run the network? If you know the answer to that maybe you could run Qwest better than it is running now.
re: Is Qwest Shunning Startups?I see your posts on Light Reading quite often. Many of your posts refer to the startup sector. It is quite obvious that a startup local to your area has you shaking in your boots.
Face it. As a former employee I can say with some credibility that NT hasn't been developing product for years. At one point NT was a hard-core R&D firm. However, NT didn't handle their 1980's success very well. NT got stagnant. It was FULL of people who were not competent to be in their respective positions. Granted, there were some hard-core engineers around there, but they were few and far between.
Recommendation: Go to work for a startup. Get used to working hard again. Start thinking for yourself, instead of believing the propoganda NT leadership is telling you. Do you really expect them to come out and say "Well, we're screwed." Hell no, they make millions to lie and they lie well to thousands of people.
A good book for folks in your position to read: "Who Moved My Cheese". It's all about people working for large Corporations, coming to work and being lazy, feeling "entitled" to greatness because they once were. Here are the key points:
Change Happens: (they keep moving the cheese)
Anticipate Change: (Get ready for the cheese to move)
Monitor Change: (Smell the cheese to see if it's getting moldy) I smelled moldy cheese at NT 3 years ago.
Adapt to Change quickly (The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese)
Change (MOVE WITH THE CHEESE)
Enjoy Change (Savor the adventure) This is what drives normal people to greatness.
Let me tell you. Startup employees know there's no entitlement to greatness and it must be earned. Startup employees dig, and dig hard everyday. Once you get used to the hours, the environment is much more rewarding because are allowed people think for themselves.
re: Is Qwest Shunning Startups?If a company is going to send demo equipment into Qwest's lab (or any other RBOC), that company owes it to itself to have put it's product through the RINGER!! Because falling on your face at this point wastes everyone's time (the customer's lab, other startups vying to get their equipment in there, development engineers at startups, etc.) It makes optical startup comapnies look like fools, to the outside world.
Hey, I just got to the end of this thread, and realized that it was mostly filled with political rhetoric, complaining about the politics of other companies(kind of a waste of time...).
2. The reason that Lightreading couldn't reach Becker was because he was on vacation.
3. He could be on vacation with Callisma signing another deal.