Hackney’s Speech to the Enterprise Troops

By Mark Evans | Published: September 14, 2009

Here’s an e-mail that Joel Hackney, who heads up Nortel’s enterprise business, sent out after Avaya’s $900-million purchase of the business:

Team,

Today marks an important day in the future of our Enterprise Solutions business as earlier this morning it was affirmed that Avaya is the winning bidder. Avaya was selected as the stalking horse because of its commitment to serving the best interests of all stakeholders, and the affirmation of its winning bid today underscores that initial choice. The formal court approval is expected to occur on September 15, and the deal close is targeted for late in Q4. In some EMEA jurisdictions, this transaction is subject to information and consultation with employee representatives.

This milestone sets the stage to create a company that will fundamentally reshape how businesses communicate. With the addition of the Nortel Enterprise Solutions business at the close of the transaction, the combined capabilities of the new Avaya will represent more than 8,000 patents and industry leading innovation focused on helping companies communicate more intelligently. It will bring expanded portfolio breadth, channel capabilities and vertical segment strength into Avaya, and for Nortel customers, it will provide broader services offerings as well as access to greater Web 2.0 features and benefits.

Getting to this point took an incredible effort across the entire Enterprise organization. In short, your performance thru the toughest times imaginable has been stated by many stakeholders as “remarkable” and one of the most inspired efforts in business. In the midst of the restructuring, we not only retained key customers, but we also picked up several new customers and grew our revenue in second quarter. Where others in the marketplace pulled back on their product plans, we forged ahead and met our product delivery roadmap commitments. It has been a privilege to work with a team who can see what is possible and then spend days, nights and weekends making it a reality.

I realize the most pressing issue for all of you is whether or not you will have a job with Avaya. It is expected that, at a minimum, Avaya will employ about three-quarters of Enterprise Solutions employees globally. This includes the full Nortel Government Solutions workforce and most employees who work wholly or mainly for the Enterprise Solutions business in countries with an Acquired Rights Directive (ARD) or similar law. ARD or similar laws apply in many of the countries in EMEA and require that employment automatically transfers to the purchaser upon an acquisition of the business. Outside of Nortel Government Solutions employees and those employees in countries where ARD or similar laws apply, we expect that a minimum of about 60% of the remaining Enterprise Solutions workforce will be offered employment with Avaya.

In countries outside EMEA where we will complete a selection process prior to close, our goal is to inform all employees as soon as possible whether they are in-scope or out-of-scope for a position at Avaya. Our principle is to move fast in making these decisions for the sake of all employees’ ability to know their status. The process will be managed jointly by Nortel and Avaya leaders, taking into account functional and positional requirements for the new Avaya. We will seek to inform employees of their status as we are able to confirm it over the coming weeks, and we expect to complete selections by mid-October in most functions and geographies. In parallel, we will continue to drive the Nortel Enterprise business through the close date under our current business and workforce plans.

Providing a continued path for professional growth has been a key element of all proposals we evaluated, and Kevin Kennedy himself has spoken openly about the need to proactively engage both Nortel and Avaya employees. We will seek to be open and transparent regarding the selection process and focused on building the strongest team possible in the new Avaya and maintaining business momentum in Nortel Enterprise Solutions through the close date.

Integration planning with Avaya is already underway and will accelerate over the coming weeks as we seek to combine the best of both companies. There will undoubtedly be challenges along the way, but if we continue to focus our actions on delivering what is best for our customers, we will be well served.

And when it comes to execution, we simply can’t miss a beat. Since filing, our customer support has been outstanding, and we need to show our customers the same levels of service and support from now until close – and beyond. Maintaining our business momentum has never been more important, so let’s keep our feet firmly pressed against the accelerator as we finish this quarter and enter Q4.

A new journey begins in earnest today. Like many of you, I am excited about creating our future. Together with Avaya, we have an exciting opportunity to redefine the landscape of business communications.

Thank you for all you have done to bring us to this day and for the amazing work you have done on behalf of our customers.

No doubt you have many questions about today’s announcement. Please join me and the Enterprise senior leadership team for an All-hands Enterprise GIS audio webcast today, September 14, at 11:00 a.m. EDT. Throughout this process we are committed to communicating all significant developments, answering your questions and providing you with timely information.

Click here to add this event to your Outlook calendar (select “Open” then “Save and Close”). A playback will be made available for those not able to participate in the live session.

If you would like to pre-submit a question for the Enterprise GIS, please do so here.

In addition, for the Americas Sales Team, there will also be a GIS audio webcast today at 1:00 p.m. EDT. Click here to add this event to your Outlook calendar (select “Open” then “Save and Close”). A playback will be made available for those unable to attend this session. Additional Asia and EMEA GIS’s will be held starting tomorrow. Separate invitations will make those sessions available to you as well.

Please watch for more information from me later today with additional information, including links to supporting documentation for the sales team. I appreciate your hard work and attention to detail as we move through this transition and I look forward to speaking with you shortly.

Joel Hackney
President, Enterprise Solutions

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GoProto

I think people, including that Ottawa Citizen are misinterpreting Hackers remarks.
——————————————-
From Hack's Team Speech:
“It is expected that, at a minimum, Avaya will employ about three-quarters of Enterprise Solutions employees globally. ”

Last time I looked, 3/4 = 75%

Also from Hack's Speech:
“Outside of Nortel Government Solutions employees and those employees in countries where ARD or similar laws apply, we expect that a minimum of about 60% of the remaining Enterprise Solutions workforce will be offered employment with Avaya.”

The comments in The Ottawa Citizen make it seem like he said one thing publicly and another thing to the employees.:

“Nortel enterprise executive Joel Hackney originally said Monday that Avaya will hire 75 per cent of the employees in the business unit it is taking over.

“But in his communications with the employees, the amount shrank to 60 per cent of the workforce in most parts of the world.”
________________________________________
Uh, not exactly what happened. Nothing shrank that I can see. =)
Hey, I'm no fan of Zhack, but what's right is right.
Remember your grains , or shakers of salt..no matter who is “speeching”
PM_Guy

NGS has 1500 employees out of the total enterpise workforce and 100% of them will be transferred (Share Transfer). In NA that means only about 60% of the remaining Enterprise folks will get job offers form Avaya. The rest will either remain as part of NBS until Avaya does not need to contract those services form Nortel and the rest will be let go.

Offers should start mid-Oct.
praying_mannis

As I was listening to Hackney's GIS this morning I got really choked up when he started thanking everyone for their dedication and hard work, mainly for ensuring he got a job at Avaya.

It really got uncomfortable at the end of the call, it was like something was missing……….there was too much silence…..I think the violin music should have been there……..
felixmk

My Avaya phone decided to spontaneously disconnect from the network today. A bad omen…
zeroman

are his eyes as large as saucers now. he must have written to his buddy, Z.
GoProto

Right, makes mathematical sense. I don't get the Spin Factor of the O.Cit. article..it's silly and slanted.
NT09

can any one tell me the exact number of total enterprise workforce? I'm trying to put all numbers in perspective and assume the total number is 8000:

hire 75% of 8000 = 6000
total layoffs (before mid Oct) = 2000

all the 2000 layoffs will come from outside of NGS & ARD regions, or 40% of the workforce excluding NGS & ARD.

so the total workforce excluding NGS & ARD regions = 5000 (5000×40%=2000).
of those 3000 (or 60%) will remain with Avaya.

further I'd expect most of the 2000 cuts to be from R&D.
NortelEmp

I don't see how anyone can take anything a Nortel exec says seriously. Execs at this level in the company have lied to employees repeatedly and treated many with disrespect. Emails like these begin with a need to telll employees that they either have or don't have a job. All the wrapping in the email (thank yous, etc…) are insulting. I'm amazed that JH has the guts to do it. Ego goes a long way I suppose. (P.S. Who spells “through” in the short form “thru” in a mass email to employees? Looks very odd).
PM_Guy

Interesting statement for the Ottawa and Belleville locations:

According to Avaya spokesman Gerard Carney: “We are committed to retaining as many jobs as possible and expect to retain a substantial number of employees and maintain the research facilities in Ottawa and Belleville.”
zeroman

why would anyone keep 6000 employees. that itself is another 1.2 billion in operating costs.
PM_Guy

On an unrelated topic the former employees have filed an appeal and constitutional challenge to the Canadian judge on the original CCAA order. The appeal is based on the judge overstepping provincial powers on termination notice to employees.

This should be interesting. Good luck to the former employees on this one.
PM_Guy

Current total Number of Enterprise Employees: 7900

NGS= 1500
Direct Nortel = 6400 – 1000 to be cut by 3Q = 5400
Avaya to take 60% of 5400 = 3840 employees to transfer

This leaves 2560 to workers which will be split between Nortel Business Services (NBS) or be laidoff.
godstypo

what about the enterprise data portion of the business? ( former bay networks switches and routers?) will avaya continue to invest and support that product line?
protosphere

“so let’s keep our feet firmly pressed against the accelerator”

…and if she honks, get out and grab her face!
protosphere

Team?

hahaha… who is the Carolina strangler calling team… employees can't stand him. They cringe at this empty headed megalomaniac.

And the hype just keeps on a coming, must be a syndrome with these guys.
Another_Nortel_Watcher

Note this comment: “and for Nortel customers, it will provide broader services offerings as well as access to greater Web 2.0 features and benefits.”

This is proof positive that the Choker had no clue about the Nortel portfolio. Nortel has been way out in front of Avaya on 'Web 2.0 features and benefits' for years.

What an ass. An incompetent and vile human being.
beenawhile

your math is exactly my understanding of the situation.
Compass

I am in Enterprise and did not receive Joel's announcement e-mail; neither did any of my team. We learned that Avaya was the winning bidder from the press. Pavi woke up to send out an e-mail about an hour after we had read the news. An Enterprise sales person forwarded Joel's e-mail to our team.

Nortel Executive Management consistent to the end. Completely inept, No leadership, No integrity.

If Avaya gives Joel a job, they deserve the fate they get.

Without Bo Gowan the employees whose lives are directly impacted wouldn’t have had a clue what was happening over the auction weekend. Thanks Bo.
tiredofitall

Yeah I read that. I am in Belleville and hope that this is true. Avaya reps came through our site and the word is they like what they saw. Who is Gerard Carney?
scalppeeler

Good luck to belleville.
One thing you can count on is Zero support from the ontario liberals.
They've done nothing so far but take away and will continue to do so.
Just ask current nortel pensioners in Ontario.
I hope somehow it works out for you.
But you have two big strikes against you.
You are in a country called canada where nortel was born and the province
of Ontario where you are last on a list of interest to the Ontario, Federal and municipal
governments. I've said it many times Government at all levels do not put Canadians First. Only canadians of convenience, special interest groups and minority groups.
Just go get a trade to be a nail puncher through one of Daltons retraining plans.
Or a french fry engineer.
S_O_S_This_is_HMS_Nortel

The fact that Avaya didnt' want the ES data portfolio in the beginning of the purchase is not a good news for the employees in this area.

They are still trying to figure out how to integrate these equipment into what they already have. However once they unearth what behind the walls, they will find a mess in this area – too many old boxes, too many software loads, life time guarantee, development centres spreaded out everywhere, lots of account team people (for those kindernets)…etc…

Avaya will probably get rid of a number of older legacy switches (BayStack). For ERS product line I suspect they will only maintain a bare minimum support and SW sustaining team and generate whatever revenue they can from SLAs from the existing Nortel's customers (mostly CSLAN solution). It will be tougher for them to compete with Juniper/Cisco in the router/switch space now that they cannot bundle ERS into a CVoIP solution sales for many Wireless customers.
S_O_S_This_is_HMS_Nortel

Ronald Alepian
Moose_Chaser

AGREED !

Thanks very much, Bo Gowan !!

MC
another_optimist

SOS seems to think that the only time Nortel Data was sold was into accounts was when a large voice solution was sold. While this may be the case in his patch of the woods, it's not the case around the world.

He is correct that originally Avaya had no interest in the data, they have expressed interest and the intent is to keep the portfolio as they see the value in it.
GoProto

Yes, I saw that too, and Sproule's commentary. Also saw somewhere that AVAYA's head Corporate Honcho , M. Ali comes from an environment that strongly believes in and supports employee retention when dealing with M & A. Therefore, I for one am optimistic that the 15mil put aside May not be All for Exec Bonuses, but we will see. Proof is in the Pudding as they say. I am hoping for a fresh new approach, however naive that may sound.
GoProto

Agreed. Very unprofessional, to say the least.
dum_dum

Why should anyone beleive Joel's prediction on how Avaya will manage the acquisition ?

Avaya has a VERY different business model than Nortel, relying mostly on channels.

If you put aside the Government Solutions and possibly a couple of R&D facilities, unless Avaya want to depart from the way they've been doing business, it should be a whole lot more than 40% job cuts.

To my friends in Enterprise, good luck with the upcoming lotery.
philcolbourn

Do we know where GSM-R ended up?
20yrsNT

Your math is a little high –

Currently 6800 Enterprise – 1500 NGS – 1000 EMEA = 4300 remaining.

60% of 4300 would be 2500 others going to Avaya – 1700 more to cut
NT09

your number does not add up exactly –

5000 remain with Avaya, which leaves 1800 more to cut (on top of the 1000 by Q3).
GoProto

Happy to see the Ottawa Citizen has re-worded its previous commentary on the Hackers remarks..things are bad enough without adding confusion to the mix.
GoProto

Agre with all you wrote, except where did you get 1000 EMEA.? All I saw was Avaya is keeping “most” of, but no number was stated.
NT09

if all data we have is accurate, then EMEA is precisely 1050:

currently 6800 in Enterprise
75% of 6800 = 5100 (go to Avaya)
25% of 6800 = 1700 (cut)

1700 is 40% of (total – NGS – EMEA)
e.g.: 6800- 1500 – EMEA = 1700 / 40% = 4250

EMEA = 1050
zeroman

nowhere. nobody wants GSM now.
zeroman

ok but in a way he is right. if the business loses momentum it means diminished value resulting in layoffs. Enterprise folks need to do whatever it takes to establish themselves as valued people within Avaya.
zeroman

Sproule, Klein and the others can only pipe up and crib about it every once in a while. They cannot do anything except get publicity ranting about Nortel on talk shows, papers and blogs. The gov is also not going to do anything, period.

So move on folks. I hope you are not paying these people for 'consulting' and 'representing' you. If you have then you've been fooled twice.
zeroman

and in Ottawa you are dead last for even Ontario.

I am going to cringe if Dalton boy uses the same Change campaign.
GoProto

Since last known (July) employee numbers haven't been re-stated 3-4 times, I don't know if we can count on them to be accurate.
GoProto

In the US, public rants and rage can affect major outcomes in society (Business, Gov't) and get former blind people to pay attention to the changing culture.
Look at the Bank of America and all they are currently going through. People have had enough.
Look at the Health Care Debates and Town Hall meetings. Is Obama and every rep. who cares about getting re-elected listening to their constituents? You bet.
I believe that people en masse with a cause can certainly affect an outcome, and at the very least, have a responsibility to try. I am not going to just throw my hands up in the air and cry victim.
freqmgr

I suspect that someone will take GSM-R but not the other GSM business. GSM-R is one area that Nortel is the market leader.
PM_Guy

You are correct but I do not have a current count of EMEA employees. I expect some of the 1000 cuts are coming form EMEA as well.

It is still a guessing game as to the exact numbers.
ntpurgatory

Yes, but what about the North American footprint picking up GSM would give – perhaps an NSN? AT&T and TMO USA – certainly that footprint is worth something, no? These 2 accounts are in GSM
zeroman

they are not breaking up the business.
zeroman

two points In the US different from In Canada. Cry victim which is exactly what these people are doing. No action, just whimpering.
freqmgr

You're correct. I was focused on GSM-R since it is an area where Nortel has had success. The German Federal railway and Nortel's railway business in China are significant. In the European case it seems what the Germans do for rail safety and telecom others tend to follow.
GoProto

That's too bad. Crying will get you.. a tissue, and not much more.
painful_truth

Yes
Musicvideos1

Its a very bad moment. seem no result will come out. nobody wants GSM now.
Band Merchandise
Musicvideos1

its a very bad moment. seem no result will come out. nobody wants GSM now.
Band Merchandise
Musicvideos1

Its a very bad moment. seem no result will come out. nobody wants GSM now.
Band Merchandise

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