Nortel to spend $400 million on high-speed technology
By Melanie Austria Farmer
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
November 2, 1999, 7:45 a.m. PT
Telecommunications equipment provider Nortel Networks today said it will invest
$400 million in its optical networking and components business by expanding
facilities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Canada-based Nortel said the investment includes establishing a new facility in Ottawa for
the fabrication of precision lasers and optical components, which are part of a technology
called dense wavelength division multiplexing, or DWDM. Nortel hopes to extend the
capabilities of DWDM to handle more data at higher speeds.
The company also said it plans to build new facilities in Montreal and to expand existing
facilities in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. In addition, it will increase its supply
chain and customer service capabilities in the United States, including in Atlanta, Georgia,
and Raleigh, North Carolina.
In a conference call to reporters and analysts this morning, Nortel chief executive John
Roth said the $400 million investment will generate about 5,000 news jobs, and the new
facility in Montreal will help Nortel meet customer demand by tripling manufacturing
capacity.
About 5,000 full-time positions in systems integration and testing, engineering, supply
chain management, and customer service will be created as a result of Nortel's investment,
Nortel executives said during the conference call. Of those, 850 will be in Ottawa,1,450 in
Montreal, 1,800 divided between the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, and the
remaining 900 in other locations, including the United States. |
