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Nortel set to unveil strategy for fibre-optic production
Bert Hill
The Ottawa Citizen
Nortel Networks is expected to lift the veil on a new strategy to rapidly increase
fibre-optic component production next week.
The telecommunication equipment maker will appear before Kanata council
Tuesday for approval to build the first phase of a new plant on Palladium Drive
near the Corel Centre.
Nortel spokesman Paul Hornbeck said yesterday that in addition to the council
appearance, Nortel will release additional details of its plans next week. He
declined further comment.
A City of Kanata spokesman said Nortel wants a permit for a light manufacturing
plant.
Nortel chief executive John Roth said this week that the Ottawa region is on a
short list for a new fibre-optic component plant but that no decisions had been
made.
Sales of fibre-optic equipment, which dramatically expands the capacity of
telecommunication systems, are growing at a 100-per-cent annual rate. The
Nortel product line could account for 25 per cent of company revenues of $20
billion next year.
A Kanata plant will probably be just one part of the Nortel strategy for increasing
production quickly. It negotiated purchase options on two properties on
Palladium Drive last week and has apparently decided to buy property on the
north side of road, adjacent to a Home Depot store.
However, Nortel has told the development industry the options do not mean the
company has made a final decision on the site. Construction of the first
125,000-square -foot phase -- about the same size as a big-box store like Home
Depot -- could start immediately. People familiar with the project say Nortel
hopes to have the plant in operation as early as next summer. Later phases of the
property, which is already zoned for industrial use, would increase plant size to
about 300,000 square feet.
Nortel is also looking at expansion elsewhere. Nortel has an extensive fibre-optic
manufacturing operation in Paignton, England and a research and development in
Harlow, England. A Kanata plant will probably also mean changes at Nortel's
current fabrication facility on Corkstown Road in Nepean which makes silicon
wafers and specialized chips for fibre-optic products as well as other products. |
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