Nortel Helps to Save Right Whales

Right Whale
On now for something different: some news about Nortel being involved in a good cause.

Nortel’s government services business is working with the U.S. Coast Guard on a project to save the right whale from extinction. For the past 10 years, the Mandatory Ship Reporting System has been in place to automate the collection and distribution of information about the location right whales and ship of more than 300 tons.

According to Washington Technology, the system “takes reports from National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and automatically feeds them to large commercial ships in the area of right whales”.

According to Wikipedia, there are only 300 to 400 right whales in the North Atlantic,

Nortel recently won a $800,000 contract so it could keep working on the MSRS project. .

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  • gone2moro

    Lord, with Nortel's luck it will turn out to be the WRONG whales……

  • AcrimoniousAl

    about their decision to help the whales, a Nortel spokesperson had this to say:

    “While this was a difficult decision, it was necessary to help position Nortel to be a more focused, financially sound and competitive company.”

    :)

  • yeah_whatevah

    meanwhile Nortel has a $400,000 unpaid phone bill owed to Sprint Nextel.

    http://chapter11.epiqsystems.com/claimpdf/48f43…

    way to treat a company thats also one of its biggest customers eh?

  • OldBNR1

    Nortel is like the Pequod with Captain Ahab in command ….

  • sushi_anyone

    Who cares really. Zudas has ruined Nortel, destroyed peoples dreams and careers, cheated creditors and made a once great company the butt of everyones jokes.

    I dont care if they bring back the dodo from extinction, Z and his GEniasses have no honour.

  • less

    The Basques were the first to commercially hunt right whales. They began doing so as early as the 11th century in the Bay of Biscay. They reached eastern Canada by 1530 and the shores of Todos os Santos Bay ( Bahia, Brazil) by 1602.
    Particularly popular feeding areas are the Bay of Fundy and Cape Cod Bay.

    Great. I can read Mondays headline already:

    <(i>Monday, April 20 2009
    300 Right Whales Beached Without Bay Along the Coast of Canada

    Avid whale watcher and CEO of Nortel, Mike Zafirovski, facing forward into the brine, insisted the whales' decision was a difficult one, but necessary to help position them be a more focused, ecologically more [Long Island] sound and competitive species moving forward.

    ”They saw and heard our technology and have chosen it to evolve, to synergize with the country Nortel built. They look ppoed, but at their core they remain vibrant and fresh, like Nortel.”

    Zafirovski insisted the animals were in no imminent danger of extinction. “Right whales are in no imminent danger of extinction,” said Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski.
    “They are right whales, They always do whats right. This is why they are dear to me.”
    Asked if Cisco's rumors claiming Nortel's outsourced equipment may have been faulty and caused the whales to become disoriented, Joel Hackney slapped his knee: “There are no right whales in the Frisco Bay. Why? You know where Cisco is headquartered, hmmm, b-tch?”

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    More of Mike Z's doublespeak. It would almost make for a good comedy if it weren't so blatantly hypocritical and ridiculous. “Focus” on the customer, drive sales, blah, blah. We all know these words are as hollow as Z's soul.

  • exnt2

    when is the project to save nortel going to be put into action

  • NortelTragedy

    Zudas, pirates and whales. I wish I were artistic.

    http://www.halcyon.com/donace/PIRATE05AE.JPG

  • yes4aapl

    Zudas has ruined Nortel, destroyed peoples dreams
    ——–
    re
    Be realistic!
    Mike Zafiro made many mistakes. That's true. He failed many times, that's true.
    but
    Why do you say he destroyed Nortel?
    I disagree with that!
    He got a broken ship, broken Titanic!
    You can accuse him of not fixing Titanic but don't say he destroyed it!
    Don't say it here again because I will reply with my view about that as many times as you repeat that assumption.
    Mike Z was not able to fix the problem! Mike Z failed restructuring Nortel, the broken ship!
    Mike Z did not destroy Nortanic!
    Just my opinion.
    yes4aapl

  • sick_sigma

    The sprint nextel claim is interesting.

    If I am reading this court claim from Sprint correctly(emphasize the word “if”)…… then Nortel stopped payment on multiple checks back on 11/30/08 we had issued to Sprint to pay for multiple different accounts that we have with them. Furthermore, it appears that we stopped paying anything whatsoever for some of the accounts after that date of 11/30/08.

    Question……. So why would NT stop payments on checks so far in advance of the bankruptcy filing date?(one possible answer to that is a very ugly one).

    Also, on page 5 it appears that Nortel had a balance of $226,217.62 from our bill dated 12/31/08. As best I can tell, Nortel paid $117,846.18 of that on 1/13/09 — just a couple of days before the bankruptcy hit. I guess it is good that Sprint got at least part of their money from us.

    I also wonder if Sprint is getting their money from Nortel for our usage post-filing? I notice that there are several handwritten comments on this document marked “pro-rated” so perhaps Nortel was indeed able to pay for our usage for the second half of January but not the first part of the month(pre-filing period).

    You know, we hear a lot about the hardships inflicted on us as Nortel employees(aka, the peons). We do not hear much about the hardships that Nortel's debts have inflicted on our suppliers. I sincerely do sympathize with some of the suppliers to Nortel who are going to get screwed out of millions of dollars. I also feel sorry for any peons at those companies who will lose their jobs as a result.

  • sushi_anyone

    Mike Z unlike his predecesors had an open check book. He had the freedom to do anything he wanted, yet every decision he and the BoD made was the wrong one.

    - No focus, after 5 years what is Nortel, what does it stand for? What happened to cutting devisions that did not generate revenue?
    - Blamed GOps employees for lost sales, introduced stupid metrics
    - Black belt focused, no innovation, juts cost cutting
    - created centers of excellence which are anything but that. I went on a trip to China and the designers there had never heard of SLAs we had to meet. They were livng on easy street.
    - Wimax….money wasted and how many sales?
    - Sale of MEN, how amateurish was that.
    - Enterprise continuing to suffer from bad products/quality
    - CH11

    The list goes on and on. Yes Nortel was in bad shape, but his incompetence drove the company to the ground.

    If he made good decisions and the company still failed I'd say yes he did all he could but failed , this is clearly not the case

  • yes4aapl

    Mike Z unlike his predecesors had an open check book. He had the freedom to do anything he wanted, yet every decision he and the BoD made was the wrong one.

    ===============
    re
    Mike Z was a “green” CEO, has never before been CEO.
    Nortel was in bad shape. BOD knew that. Who BOD choses to heal Nortel? Who BOD chose? A new doctor who has never before healded anyone?
    Nortel's culture is to blame for Nortel going BK. Long history of Nortel's culture of lies, greed and deception.
    Mike Z has been the last CEO Nortanic submerged with!
    http://disqus.com/people/yes4aapl/#main

  • less

    its no wonder Nortel is ailing – its been following right whales. Cmon if they were birds they'd be, well.. right… wing.. Nortel ad guys need a better whale angle, MIkey:

    humpback: the honorable, nderappreciated hunchback of Notre Dame was this French (=”true Canadian”) story's hero. But, no, “Quasimodo” sounds too much like “Quasar-Motorola”. They suck.

    sperm whale; breeds innovation, ideas

    narwhal: Norwhal Networks!!!!

    pilot: nah, too iffy in light of them private jet outings..

    Beluga/Minke: nah, “caviar” and fur coats suggest excessiveness

    blue: is the color of my true stock's skin in the morning as we rise

    bottlenose: eeek! Pinocchio

    Chinese white/Indio-Pacific: they'll work just fine

    orca: Nortel is killer, but…

    the spinner, the spinner whale is by far the best mascot for Nortel's green ad campaign

  • sick_sigma

    The wacky world of Nortel gets more and more weird every day. Now we have a reporter interviewing a Gray Market company to provide perspective on Nortel's financial difficulties. What kind of moron reporter does this? Now I have seen it all.

    Also, there are some interesting comments here about the Nortel Enterprise being on the verge of a sale.

    http://www.ottawacitizen.com/slide+into+oblivio…

    A slide into oblivion

    Nortel has concluded it is too small to compete. The sale of major assets is set to begin—and Ottawa's nearly 4,000 workers are bracing for the outcome.

    By James Bagnall, The Ottawa CitizenApril 18, 2009 9:29 AM

    Three months following Nortel's humiliating descent into bankruptcy court, the anger among former executives is almost palpable.

    “Nortel is clearly seriously wounded and the management is carving off cash and stripping other assets with a lack of knowledge bordering on stupidity,” Bob Ferchat, the former head of Nortel's Canadian operations, said in a note prepared for the Citizen.

    “Resuscitating the body will be very difficult and chances of survival diminish with each passing day. But the opportunity is immeasurable in its importance to Canada.”

    In fact, the knowledge possessed by Nortel's top guns appears deep. The Citizen has obtained a summary of an analysis prepared by a senior Nortel executive on the challenges facing each of the company's main divisions.

    The conclusion: while Nortel is leading edge in some of its main product lines, the company as a whole lacks sufficient scale to survive an industry transition that favours two types of competitors — low-cost producers, and corporations large enough to support major-league R&D.

    Worse, even a large infusion of capital would not be enough to solve Nortel's problem, the summary suggests. This may be why Nortel appears embarked on an orderly sale of all, or nearly all, its key product lines and businesses — the process that has upset Ferchat and many of his colleagues.

    Nortel is expected soon to finalize a deal involving the sale of its Enterprise division, which markets telephone and data networks to large organizations such as multinationals and government departments.

    Based in Dallas, the group last year recorded revenues of $2.4 billion (all figures U.S.) but is suffering a rapid decline in orders since Nortel entered bankruptcy court in mid-January.

    The Enterprise unit now appears on track for a revenue decline of several hundred million dollars in 2009.

    This pattern squares with the experience of specialized firms that sell networking gear. Barry Shevlin, the CEO and founder of Florida-based Network Liquidators, says sales of Nortel equipment last year made up about 20 per cent of his company's sales. But, so far this year, the percentage has tumbled to 16 per cent.

    “That's a 20-per-cent decline in my Nortel business,” he says.

    Nortel declined to comment on its strategy for divesting its businesses. “We are pursuing opportunities that we believe will provide maximum benefit to our key stakeholders, including our creditors, customers and employees,” said company spokeswoman Karen Monaghan.

    The drop in revenues in Nortel's Enterprise group since January has reduced its potential value.

    However, Enterprise at least offers the possibility of a speedy exit. This is a quasi-independent entity with a tradition of operating apart from the other Nortel businesses. It could be separated from the company with relative ease — unlike Nortel's other groups, which are deeply intertwined.

    Among the possible acquirers of the Enterprise business are New Jersey-based Avaya, Siemens of Germany and a growing number of private equity firms.

    The decline in the amount these firms would be willing to pay for Enterprise hurts Nortel's ability to consider retaining its two remaining business units — which specialize in carrier products and optical technology respectively.

    The $4.3-billion-a-year (2008 revenues) carrier business sells switches, routers and other communications gear to telephone companies, cable firms and wireless service operators. The optical unit, which logged sales last year of $1.4 billion, specializes in transmission technology. Both of these units have a large presence in Ottawa, home to nearly 4,000 of Nortel's 29,000 employees.

    Independent analysts agree Nortel still leads in certain areas — such as products for sending voice over the Internet, and 40-gigabit and 100-gigabit optical transmission gear. However, Nortel may lack the R&D heft to keep ahead.

    Part of it has to do with the strength of the industry's newcomers, Huawei and ZTE of China. The quality of their telecommunications gear, though considered inferior to that of Nortel's, is improving quickly, and costs substantially less. Not only that, the Chinese firms can rely on generous government backing to finance customers willing to buy their products.

    So, even if Nortel stays ahead technically, this advantage may not be enough.

    Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski has canvassed investment bankers and customers about the possibility of raising substantial additional capital. But the advice he received was pointed: Nortel must address its small size in an industry of giants and well-financed newcomers — and, at the same time, fix its financial weakness.

    This outcome appears a long shot.

    It is a testament to Nortel's legendary cult of loyalty that former managers have emerged to reclaim a piece of the company they built, and perhaps work some magic again.

    The most dramatic of these efforts involves a team of up to six former executives, who have been trying to line up capital to acquire all or most of Nortel's carrier unit.

    It's not clear whether the former executives are attempting also to buy the company's optical business.

    When Zafirovski put the optical division up for sale last September, at least one team of current and former Nortel employees made moves to acquire it.

    But Zafirovski apparently was not impressed by these, and other potential buyers. He announced early this year that Nortel would keep the optical unit. Yet, more recently, Zafirovski has been showing signs he is willing once more to entertain offers.

    The big concern among Nortel's former top managers is that a fire sale will see the company's assets scattered to the four winds, with the most promising bits of Nortel technology disappearing into products developed by competitors.

    “Communications play such a fundamental role in the economy that Canada must participate in its development,” says Greg Mumford, Nortel's former chief technology officer. “If Canada ends up importing the technology we need, we'll just be sending money to support innovation in other countries.”

    However, it's not clear the ex-Nortel crew will be able to land the kind of major capital necessary to make a go of things. It may also be too late.

    There is wistfulness in the thinking of Nortel's alumni. This is a 104-year-old corporation with a long tradition of making very big bets on technology and winning.

    Nortel's carrier business led the drive to transform the telecommunications industry in the 1980s from analog to digital technology.

    The company's optical networking group was the first in the 1990s to develop transmission technology that sped data along at the rate of 10 billion bits per second.

    Because of these and other past commercial successes, Nortel technology is embedded in thousands of large telephone and wireless networks in every continent, but especially throughout North America.

    Nortel should have been able to mine this base of installed technology profitably for many years. It is a feature of the industry that once carriers settle on a particular technology, they are more or less hostage to the original supplier for software upgrades for many years — until the next generation of gear emerges.

    However, Nortel has been enormously distracted since 2001, starting with the collapse of the optical networking bubble. Accounting scandals, followed by the installation of new CEOs unfamiliar with the telecom industry, haven't helped.

    Along the way, Nortel failed to target products and niches in which it could acquire sufficient size to compete successfully. It was a decade late to compete in wireless networking. Nortel also missed the opportunity in the early 1990s to jump into Internet routing technologies. Yet the firm is still trying to compete in these and other networking technologies.

    In the end, Nortel wound up with too little R&D stretched across too many product lines.

    The most likely result now is that many of Nortel's remaining employees will find themselves working under the banner of former competitors. Others will be let go over the coming year and next, as new buyers gradually rationalize two streams of R&D.

    It won't happen overnight, says Gartner analyst Bob Hafner. “Whoever buys the businesses will want to keep customers happy,” he says. “If the systems are working fine, they won't change them out until the next generation technology is ready.” In the meantime, he notes, former Nortel employees will be needed to service the networks.

    Still other Nortel employees are already seeking advice from former colleagues about how to go about buying smaller pieces of Nortel's intellectual property, and turn it into the basis for a new business.

    These entrepreneurs at least will draw upon an extensive history — and the memory of what it is to be great. With luck, they will experience it again.

    jbagnall@thecitizen.canwest.com
    © Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

  • JlouisMeneghetti

    So feel I.

    Note that the Chapter 11 (or AACC or anyway this is referred to in Europe) safeguards the interests of the company (Nortel, as far as we are concerned) but is more than likely to hurt (and possibly to hurt in a very hard way) the creditors.

    Many thanks, Sick_Sigma, for caring

  • Nortel_or_Enron??

    Yes4aapl…lets be serious here. Mike Z is a disgrace and he did destroy Nortel. There's an old saying “It not the arrow its the Indian”. This meaning all things being equal all CEO's have the same tools and the ability to use them to be successful. Those who are successful made good decisions those that did not are the failures. Another example just like BASS fishing, you have great fishermen year after year…do you not think all the couple hundred fishermen in the water are not using the same lures? Of course they are just some know how to use it and where to use it to be successful year after year. The two Gary's were our “Indian's” and our stupid BOD got rid of them.

  • NortelEmp

    I liked this article. Well presented.

  • employeeinchina

    The first priority for nortel is to save itself from extinction. :)

  • valid

    Not the “right” type of whale, but relevant.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LLbQ7WDh8c

  • whatnext4nt

    Yes, an excellent article, and it is refreshing to see former Nortel executives take a stand. Bob Ferchat's comment is bang on: “Nortel is clearly seriously wounded and the management is carving off cash and stripping other assets with a lack of knowledge bordering on stupidity”. People still employed at Nortel know that the border was actually crossed a long while ago and we are thousands of miles passed it in our random walk “journey” our GEnius leaders have taken us through in the land of stupidity.

  • protosphere

    Ethics Minus 101:

    How many times must economics trump ethics in government and business?
    What can one learn from balancing these evils from their economic benefit.

    If “the love of money is the root of all evil”, what lessons have we learned or can we still learn defying this parallel to better vision, where there is no such thing as too good of an eyesight. May I suggest excess is blinding and this is the wrong resolve to follow.

    Sure, sponsoring our Olympics, saving the whales, or one laptop per child are all admirable under the luxury of affording the expense. Money can make heros like the mob handing out turkeys to the destitute at Christmas to make them look like the good guys. However, when the money runs dry Mr. Scrooge surfaces like Nortel with its employees to appease big business creditors.

    It wasn't the losers who wrote history, or tried to rewrite it for that matter, like the Germanic holy grail in its most extreme case. However, when things so sour, so do the effects of what they try to accomplish. Just look at Nortel today.

    One laptop per child has already been scrapped as this company ran under the leniency and protection of safe harbor for so long to under the protection of bankruptcy today. Economics on this contingency indirectly thwart philanthropy. How can ethics take a a backseat to economics as a resolve in so many cases.

    The NDP government introduced casino gambling in neglect of moral public outcry. Neglecting the mass exodus and breakup of homes to the addictions and endless other dire complications it fostered and they readily acknowledge even after the fact. It basically neglects human suffering to the benefit of economics, even when those we elect neglect the moral majority's opposition. Even our most ethical representative, our premier, still defends its economic benefit while acknowledging the trade offs yet even he condemn Nortel's cutting severances under bankruptcy law !

    Nor only did they turning a blind eye to keeping fraud bonuses they got more approved after bankruptcy, traded options for cash again, paid little for fraud but simply revise more unreliable numbers to print billions more paper that paid an ultimatum settlement and creditors with ongoing bonuses. Sweeping so much under the rug with OSC /EDC continues support, all sins forgiven with so many still there on the basis of economics. This something is better than nothing in ultimatum by fewer heads harlotting principle to effect the greater. It was endless and unbelievable in Nortel's case… all in the pursuit of… money!

    I read today, it was even suggested California legalize pot to assist in declining court costs and increase tax revenues. Lovely, increase the effects of alcohol and traffic fatalities while facilitating an apathetic society of dopes for money. How bizarre does the desperation for money have to get than look at moire ethical avenues, when they really foster less pain in outcome contrary to their objectives.

    When will we ever learn. We don't negotiate with terrorists and we don't harlot principles for money!

    There can be no finer example than the largest fraud in Canada with a finance minister on board that hired a high profiler amid endless delay to claim bankruptcy after printing so much paper to cutting their employees benefits, let alone allowed to restructure while still paying bonuses circumventing their creditors and why they claimed bankruptcy to begin with.

    How many ad-gate or airbus-gate scandals by our most trusted and elected members of society must we endure as banks/ins cos./governments saw record profits/surplus when people ran record high debt /record low savings before the bottom fell with nothing to leach from in this last recession triggered by the subprime lending to sell money south of the border.

    When we we finally learn universal lessons in ethics to resolve our greater woes at the expense of economics. Something we may be experiencing now with lower interest rates, energy prices, and service charge happy banks taking a hit but are we truly learning anything as casinos remain open to steal 24/7 and interest rates don't following the Central Bank's reductions, and Nortel seeks to restructure cutting severances or offering pension waivers while paying bonuses taxing the UIC system and their employees.

    Save the whales but but I dunno about Nortel. I should think they have done enough damage already. Trying take creditors hostage who wanted to see a plan before approving bonuses can see how their last ultimatum tanked shareholders. They should reassess the endless blubber from buying opportunities to turnaround plans.

    My goodness we live in primitive times with robber barons alive and well, no cure to cancer or the common cold, having burned witches around 100 years ago to state sponsored genocides since then. The good news is we can see this is nuts, the bad news is that it continues however increasingly diminished as we modernize. In England they outlawed bank service charges just as Greece outlawed casinos on the basis of stealing from the people. At least energy prices and interest rates are coming down but too many rabid robber barons are biting at the bit just waiting to be set free from their cages at any turn around to unstablize and repeat the cycle at the very first sign in my opinion to beat down any bear rally until once bitten twice shy to wait longer before the next more productive kill.

    Heck I bet wales get more press coverage than the Rwanda genocides.

    Rethink what ever so clever and resilient Nortel will do under extension of even more financial aid justified under who knows what with their enormous economic, legal, and politicial power. Look how resilient they were chasing big money with enormous liberties extended on past sentiment or potential financial gain. Even amid endless contradictions to this very objective.

    Save the whales, provide laptops, happy talk Olympics, buy green jets, and when all else fails but the employees after shareholders and see if they can pay out these creditors too after selling even more assets… and don't even ask a stupid question with or without money for bonuses… of course! Kill the damn whale pests when we want our money unless they can be held hostage too?!

  • yes4aapl

    James Bagnall
    Who is James Bagnall?
    James did good work over the years reporting about Nortel.
    His conclusions
    Nortel is too small to compete April 19, 2009
    Executive pay incentives poisoned Nortel February 07, 2009
    Deconstructing Nortel, a former icon September 18, 2008
    Have a look
    Deconstructing Nortel, was James conclusion about Nortel long before BK.
    and me
    Nortel's culture led Nortel into Ch 11
    That's my opinion
    Yes4aapl
    A slide into oblivion

    Nortel has concluded it is too small to compete. The sale of major assets is set to begin—and Ottawa's nearly 4,000 workers are bracing for the outcome.

    By James Bagnall, The Ottawa CitizenApril 18, 2009

    How executive pay incentives poisoned Nortel
    Nortel's top executives took home $400 million, even as they laid the groundwork for the company's slide into bankruptcy protection, James Bagnall reports.
    James Bagnall, The Ottawa Citizen
    Published: Saturday, February 07, 2009

    “Nortel changed from an engineering culture that favored innovation to one that exalted pay and bonuses,” says a former vice-president. “We never recovered.” The extent of Nortel Networks' fall from grace is shocking.

    ===========================================================================================================
    Deconstructing Nortel, a former icon
    ANALYSIS: Investors have seemingly had it with this telecom giant — and with some good reason, James Bagnall reports.
    James Bagnall, The Ottawa Citizen
    Published: Thursday, September 18, 2008
    James Bagnall, The Ottawa Citizen
    Published: Friday, June 20, 2008
    Pity the potential jury that must deal with this mess. Four years after he was sacked for cause, former Nortel Networks CEO Frank Dunn — along with two former financial executives, Douglas Beatty and Michael Gollogly — was charged yesterday by the RCMP with cooking the company's books.
    Each is accused of two counts of fraud affecting the public market, two counts of falsifying documents and three counts of preparing a false prospectus.

  • yes4aapl

    Kill the damn whale pests when we want our money unless they can be held hostage too?!
    re
    Proto, did you suggest Nortel tried to hold whales hostage?
    that's a stretch, isn't it?
    I said long ago that Nortel hated own shareholders.
    Was I wrong?
    We know how Nortel paid back for investing in NT, don't we?
    and as you touched the broad topic of electing smart representative to govern the country included 95% not educated citizens.
    Statistics and assumptions tell me that only 5% of the population has high degree of education.
    95%, the masses, rely on those elected, those with brains….
    ha
    Your examples show that it would be better for all to choose politicians with no education but with integrity and ethics. I agree.
    There is nothing good about electing educated person who will know how to rob you the best way possible.
    It would be an easy job for RCMP to find out who benefited the most from NT stock going as high as $1200 and falling down into Ch11.
    Is it too much to ask for?

  • AngelinaBellew

    Plan on a casual setting rather than a formal blind date uncensored affair. It is not a good idea to see each other for the first time at a formal restaurant. That would make it even more awkward. A park or a café will allow you to relax a little more and encourage conversation.

  • AngelinaBellew

    Plan on a casual setting rather than a formal blind date uncensored affair. It is not a good idea to see each other for the first time at a formal restaurant. That would make it even more awkward. A park or a café will allow you to relax a little more and encourage conversation.

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