Alcatel-Lucent unveils new structure and turnaround team

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Alcatel-Lucent unveils new structure and turnaround team

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 14 November, 2008

READ MORE: Alcatel-Lucent

As Ericsson stubbornly refuses to issue any strong warnings about the downturn, the rest of the network equipment sector is scrabbling to fend off the blows of 2009. Following job cuts at Nokia Siemens, Nortel and Motorola, Alcatel-Lucent has more positive messages, strengthening its focus on services and announcing a new structure and management team.

New CEO Ben Verwaayen has produced his promised turnaround plan, seeking to convince shareholders and customers that ALU will a leaner and revitalized company under its new chiefs, following the departure of former CEO Pat Russo in the summer. The new management committee has 14 members including former BT chief Verwaayen, and it will take the helm on January 1.

The company will be divided into three regional divisions - Americas, under Robert Vrij, former CEO of Openwave, who joined two weeks ago and brings experience of running a smaller, leaner company than ALU, with a focus on software/services; EMEA, under Adolfo Hernandez, who joins from Sun Microsystems; and APAC, which will be headed by Etienne Fouques, a survivor of the ALU management cull, but moving from the EMEA region post.

As well as the regions, Verwaayen has set up three cross-company organizations focused on key business processes. While the geographical units have brought in significant new blood from diverse parts of the technology industry, these new units represent innovative approaches to how ALU's operations are focused, but are headed by internal appointees. Solutions and Marketing's remit will be "bringing together the right products and services to create the complex solutions required by customers to address new opportunities" and will be managed by Kenneth Frank, currently president of the Global Professional Services unit and based in the US.

Quality and Customer Care aims to improve product quality and pre-sales and post-sales response, and is led by Janet Davidson, currently head of Transformation, Compliance, and IT. And Operations, which has the all-important task, in a downturn, of achieving "end to end, best in class efficiency in manufacturing, logistics, supply chain and underlying processes, systems and IT", will be run by Michel Rahier, who currently heads the Carrier Business Group.

There are also four groups dedicated to individual product areas. Philippe Keryer is promoted from head of Mobile Access to run the Carrier Product Group. Andy Williams retains his role in charge of the Services Group, except that OSS/BSS products move into the third group, Applications Software, which will be run by Paul Segre, who also retains his post as CEO of Genesys, ALU's autonomous customer service software business. He also takes IMS products from the carrier division. Finally, the Enterprise Product Group will still be run by Tom Burns.

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