Comments on: Alcatel-Lucent: New CEO, Same Three Problems http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/09/02/alcatel-lucent-new-ceo-same-three-problems/ What's Next In the IT Channel Sat, 20 Mar 2010 05:59:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Rurik Bradbury http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/09/02/alcatel-lucent-new-ceo-same-three-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-79586 Rurik Bradbury Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:40:59 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/09/02/alcatel-lucent-new-ceo-same-three-problems/#comment-79586 Agreed -- in tech, 2 busted brands = twice the trouble, not 0.5 times. Unless Verwaayen really shifts direction radically, the business may die. But the question is: can any of these big traditional PBX/networking vendors escape the low end of commoditized hardware and move upstream into value-adding software? The answer may well be 'no': software is not in their DNA. The only exception seems to be Cisco, which has already made some moves in the right direction with Webex and PostPath. But compared to MS and Lotus, Cisco still looks like a long shot, because it has little foothold on the desktop. (That's actually one reason why we created <a>Unison Desktop</a> -- so Unison can control its destiny.) Agreed — in tech, 2 busted brands = twice the trouble, not 0.5 times. Unless Verwaayen really shifts direction radically, the business may die.

But the question is: can any of these big traditional PBX/networking vendors escape the low end of commoditized hardware and move upstream into value-adding software? The answer may well be ‘no’: software is not in their DNA.

The only exception seems to be Cisco, which has already made some moves in the right direction with Webex and PostPath. But compared to MS and Lotus, Cisco still looks like a long shot, because it has little foothold on the desktop. (That’s actually one reason why we created Unison Desktop — so Unison can control its destiny.)

]]> By: The VAR GUy http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/09/02/alcatel-lucent-new-ceo-same-three-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-79561 The VAR GUy Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:45:39 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/09/02/alcatel-lucent-new-ceo-same-three-problems/#comment-79561 @Rurik: Let's face it ... Alcatel-Lucent has a big but aging brand among big telecom companies, no clear brand in unified communications, and major headaches in the forms of internal culture clashes and external rivals (CSCO, open source, unified communications, VoIP, and the list goes on). The Alcatel-Lucent board was foolish to think two struggling companies could quickly come together to form one strong company. Busted brands can be restored (example: IBM in the early 1990s), but this one's going to take serious time and some serious thought leadership from Verwaayen. @Rurik: Let’s face it … Alcatel-Lucent has a big but aging brand among big telecom companies, no clear brand in unified communications, and major headaches in the forms of internal culture clashes and external rivals (CSCO, open source, unified communications, VoIP, and the list goes on).

The Alcatel-Lucent board was foolish to think two struggling companies could quickly come together to form one strong company. Busted brands can be restored (example: IBM in the early 1990s), but this one’s going to take serious time and some serious thought leadership from Verwaayen.

]]> By: Rurik Bradbury http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/09/02/alcatel-lucent-new-ceo-same-three-problems/comment-page-1/#comment-79559 Rurik Bradbury Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:33:57 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/09/02/alcatel-lucent-new-ceo-same-three-problems/#comment-79559 Ben Verwaayen is a great choice for them, but he has a monster task ahead. Many of their product lines are dead or dying. The traditional PBX, fixed line broadband will fade away. Their low-end networking business will be taken by the Chinese. And in the cutting-edge areas where Cisco is pushing forward, like telepresence, A-L is a laggard. In the UC space, innovation is moving to software like <a href="http://www.unison.com" rel="nofollow">Unison unified communications</a> or Microsoft or Lotus, which will commoditize the hardware offerings of the likes of A-L. Even for VARs selling hardware, customers will demand an appliance, so it all comes back to the software anyway... Rurik Bradbury Unison Technologies Ben Verwaayen is a great choice for them, but he has a monster task ahead. Many of their product lines are dead or dying. The traditional PBX, fixed line broadband will fade away. Their low-end networking business will be taken by the Chinese. And in the cutting-edge areas where Cisco is pushing forward, like telepresence, A-L is a laggard.

In the UC space, innovation is moving to software like Unison unified communications or Microsoft or Lotus, which will commoditize the hardware offerings of the likes of A-L. Even for VARs selling hardware, customers will demand an appliance, so it all comes back to the software anyway…

Rurik Bradbury
Unison Technologies

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