MURRAY HILL, N.J. -- Lucent Technologies Chairman and CEO Rich McGinn here Friday pledged that the company would continue to be a leader in next-generation networking technologies in areas such as service provider networks, convergence, and wireless.
But McGinn conceded the company trails others in selling enterprise networking products.
Speaking at a Lucent Media Day presentation at its corporate offices, McGinn touted the company's revenue growth of rate of 20.4 percent in 1999, in which the company has had revenue of $38.3 billion.
To continue its growth, Lucent will focus on service providers and enterprise customers, with offerings in communications systems, wireless, convergence platforms, and other networking categories, McGinn said. Services and support also will be critical.
"There is absolutely explosive demand around the world for communications technologies and professional services to support those technologies," McGinn said.
Key trends include the use of packets and IP. The convergence of voice and data networks also is occurring, he acknowledged.
"The secret sauce here, the specialty, is how to take the best of both and drive down the cost of networks," without sacrificing network reliability, McGinn said.
Next-generation networks will combine optical and packet systems, integrating ATM, optical, and IP technologies, McGinn said. Lucent plans to deliver this type of technology at terabit data speeds, he said.
McGinn displayed slides depicting the company as a leader in several categories, including PBX systems, call centers, messaging, communications semiconductors, optical networking, and voice over IP. The company is in second place in Synchronous Optical Network (SONet), according to Lucent.
However, the slide showed Lucent trailing Cisco, Nortel, 3Com, Fujitsu, and IBM in enterprise networking. Using a movie credits analogy, McGinn said Lucent is "down there with the best boy and key grip," with a few hundred million dollars a year in sales of enterprise networking systems.
This is an area that is "to be addressed," McGinn said.
"In hospital terms, our enterprise data efforts have flat-lined and other parts of our business have grown," McGinn said.
When asked how and whether the company would try to breathe more life into enterprise networking, McGinn said, "We are looking to add value, but we will do that in areas adjacent to the more prosperous parts of the corporation.
"I want to say directly that we are not looking to acquire a legacy data networking outfit," McGinn said, "nor are we looking to 'out' Cisco by just putting in another router somewhere."
McGinn also said Lucent has gotten out of the business of pulling wires into buildings. The company also is moving forward on plans to sell off "low-end distribution of voice solutions to the enterprise," he said. However, Lucent has had to look for another buyer for that business.
Lucent Technologies Inc., of Murray Hill, N.J., is at www.lucent.com.
This story from Infoworld.com Copyright © 1999 InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.
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