Re: 99Q4 CC Comments
Steve and Thread- Just for those that may be confused, the link Steve posted at: alcatel.com has a small link on it labeled, "watch." If you hit anything else on the page, it doesn't take you to the multimedia presentation where the speaker appears in a small frame while the slides can be activated by the viewer in correlation to the speaker. It worked very well for me.
Here are a few points I thought were significant.
-They layed off 6,500 employees in 1999 and hired 6,000. Very strong indication they are serious about getting into high growth segments of the telecom equipment market.
-They have used up their tax loss carry forwards. So this has me concerned. The CFO addressed it, but I got lost with his tax explanations. If I'm not mistaken, the French may tax on gross income instead of net? This is one reason being based in France concerns me.
-They need to create options for employees. Directed targeted at the US labor market to keep good employees. Even though this is not an issue in France, it's a fact of life they appear to be dealing with.
-Slide...well it's not numbered so I can't identify it short of listening to the presentation again. But it's titled, "Focus on 5 high growth businesses." I thought it was a key topic and of great importance to their future.
-It was interesting to listen to Tchuruk's comments regarding his boasting on their mobile wireless Internet access solution, "Evolium." Clearly he is very hopeful for this product line.
-Evolium had made some kind of inroad with Mannesmann. Mannesmann, as some may know, will be the largest wireless communications service provider in the world(after it is bought by Vodafone).
-I wish Tchuruk had said more about their NGDLC products as it relates to SBC's Project Pronto plans. But maybe he thought saying they have a number one position in the US with DLC was enough.
-35 trials with LMDS is quite substantial. If this access technology takes off in Europe(I think he was referring to Europe?), ALA should be in a good position. LMDS being for real is somewhat verified by Newbridge Networks previous comments about LMDS in Europe.
-They re-verified they are a world leader in digital cross connects, but they did say SDH only. Not sure what to make of that? Sonet is king in the US. SDH in Europe.
-The enterprise stuff bothers me. I don't know much about it, but I still hope they aren't planning on going head to head with Cisco.
-MikeM(From Florida) |
