AlcaLu Seeks Buyer for Enterprise Biz

If you didn't remember that Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) sells desktop phones and contact center software to enterprises, don't worry. Word has it the company wants to sell off that business.

The Wall Street Journal, which posted the story online Thursday night, says the enterprise business line's annual revenues are US$1.5 billion and that its valuation might exceed $2 billion. (See AlcaLu Unveils OpenTouch Suite and AlcaLu Targets Enterprises With WFO.)

Who might buy? The Journal says AlcaLu has only begun touting the business. Speculating on likely buyers, the report lists Ericsson AB (Nasdaq: ERIC), HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) and -- you guessed it -- private equity firms.

AlcaLu isn't doing this out of distress; in fact, the company's stock has about doubled since the beginning of the year. It's more that products such as telephones and call-center hardware aren't exactly essential to AlcaLu's telecom-network mission.

In fact, the report reminds us that Lucent already sold its enterprise division long ago. That's what begat Avaya Inc.

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading