Nothing wrong with Roese, only the position he holds. A CTO needs to be an informed and well-rounded Evangelist, which he is not (due to his lack of both Wireless and Telecom experience). He’s also too hardware-centric and talks-the-talk but hasn’t walked-the-walk on software. His insistence on MIMO-only WiMax may have potentially cost Nortel billions in revenues. That is exactly what happens when the
uninitiated rule. Sadly, we may never know what the number might have been (billions) but we definitely know what it will be – zero!

The right Software Architect would understand the concept of ‘Telecom Virtualization’ and create an architecture that both supports the many platforms and abstracts users from their inherent complexities. These guys are out there and I know a couple of great ones.

bb

I personally like John Roese and the Evangelist role he plays. The Evangelist role is important and I'm OK with the CTO holding that function. Work he has done to consolidate R&D so that various development efforts can be re-used across multiple products is good. Where I have concern is the next level down at the Product Management group. I question if they are working together or working in silos with different agendas. For instance, I think Nortel has far too many voice platforms to be really effective in the next phase of communications being based on Unified Communications and Communications Enabled Applications.

I fundamentally agree with your suggestion to hire a top notch Software Architect/Leader. Nortel has done reasonably well with technical software embedded in machines. However, I am concerned on if they can translate that into effective software used across many users on their desktops for day-to-day functions.

On the Press Releases, one constant of late is to have customer quotes as part of the Press Release. I'm OK with this however I think they can improve on how they get these messages out to other interested businesses so that they can hear directly from their peers in their respective industries.

You don’t work for the National Security Agency so STOP listening and START implementing!!!! Btw, I’m pretty Tired too of seeing a once-great company and the only hope the market had against Borg being decimated by processes instead of creativity. I hate Cisco, and you should too, so do something about it!

–bb

Ex-Nortel. Had enough and left. And your quoted commentary is an excellent example of the mindset that is bringing Nortel down: Innovation? Don't need it. Vision? Can't sell vision.

Nortel should begin looking into cold fusion — telecomm cold fusion. Instead, Nortel is still smacking steel and Clint…er, flint to get a spark. Meanwhile, the rest of the telecomm industry is looking to deliver the future. Clint and Nortel are stuck in the ancient past.

Take your pom-poms and exit stage left, Clint.

A bunch of contractors are supposedly getting the boot. The good folks training their IBM colleagues to replace them are next – all pretty much off the record.

Clint appears to believe that the legacy equipment Nortel shipped abroad will come back because the foreigners suck at it, and the fresh, young, new blue hires all full of vim and vigor will set it right back up.

So,again, if i were sitting here with extra cash begat from a generous severance package and looking to invest it, would I trust MIke Z's prophecies, the analysts' words, the word on the street or all of the above, you know: “Trust. But verify”.

My comments about Hackney and Riedel (related) to his boss; word for word:

“Unfortunately and somewhat unfairly, Mr. Hackney’s parking lot experience will precede him wherever he goes and, as such, he will not be taken as a credible leader nor would he make an effective Nortel ambassador. Besides, I think he is much better suited as a supply-chain guy (processes/inbound) as opposed to a product line guy (customers/outbound).”

“And while we are at it let’s give credit for the strength in the enterprise business where it really belongs: George Riedel. Nortel had no viable enterprise business or strategy before his arrival. That was one of your better hires. Too bad he is not paired up with an enterprise rock star; if he were you may even see triple digit growth in that space.”

See, it's not ALL negative but still no one is listening…– bb