High-tech pioneer predicts new innovation wave will begin in 2002
TORONTO, Jul 10, 2001 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- Terry Matthews, one of Canada's leading high-tech entrepreneurs, said Tuesday he expects 2002 will mark the start of a 10-year wave of innovation that will sweep away current telephone technology.
Two of the Matthews' companies, Mitel Networks and March Networks, are poised to be world leaders in systems that handle a combination of voice, video and data for an enterprise, Matthews said in an interview Tuesday with The Canadian Press.
Small and medium-sized companies, employing up to 50 people, will be the first to see the value of replacing their older, familiar phone systems with these types of advanced office communications, he said.
"My gut feeling is that starting next year there will be another dramatic change in technology allowing me to take out the entire installed base," said Matthews, who helped build Mitel and Newbridge Networks into big players in the Canadian high-tech industry.
"If I'm right, I touch another wave."
Of course, Matthews admitted, there's no guarantee his gut instinct is correct.
Equipment makers such as Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies and Cisco Systems are suffering from a severe and sudden drop in capital spending on telecommunications equipment by the world's major phone companies.
The most optimistic predictions call for a recovery to begin in the final three months of 2001, while pessimists expect the downturn to last well into next year.
Matthews said he has benefited from the downturn, since it has been easier for his companies to hire the skilled people they need since Nortel Networks began cutting thousands of jobs early this year.
In early 2000, Newbridge was sold to France's Alcatel SA for $7.1 billion. In February of this year, Matthews bought the Mitel name and communications systems division from Mitel Corp., a publicly traded company that has since been renamed Zarlink Semiconductor.
In May, what's now called Zarlink cut its workforce by 17 per cent - 430 people - after writedowns on microchip fabrication plants and an acquisition helped create a $310.9 million quarterly net loss.
But Mitel Networks has continued to hire. It currently employs 1,300 people, about 110 to 120 more than when Matthews repurchased the company.
Mitel is also expected to announce a strategic acquisition on Wednesday that will add to its technology base. |
