The concentration on Next Generation Communications this week is news – the kind that not only affected its own community, but the entire ICT world.
It is for this reason I would like to direct everyone to two items of significance. This week not only saw Alcatel-Lucent (News 
- Alert) post a lackluster quarter to end a less-than-terrific year, but it also saw the decision by its CEO Ben Verwaayen to not stand for reelection to the company’s board in May, and to ultimately step aside as CEO once the ALU finds a replacement.
With the industry at a tipping point, the change in leadership at Alcatel-Lucent comes at a critical time and it will be interesting to see the skill set the Board decides it needs to run lead the company at this critical juncture.
The other big industry news came in the form of Oracle (News - Alert) announcing it was purchasing session boarder controller (SBC) market leader Acme Packet. This is not just an indication of how important SBCs are in general, but also how companies from the computer industry are using their sharp elbows and cash to further erode the market share of both point solutions companies as well as those looking to provide a full portfolio of end-to-end IP solutions for enterprises.
Before getting to the rest of the news, I also wanted to let everyone in on some timely information you may have missed if you didn’t join us at ITEXPO in Miami last week. There are three videos in fact that – if you have time – highlight the Northeastern U.S. and are suffering through the Nemo Blizzard. Check them out:
News
In other industry news:
- Alcatel-Lucent, in association with Telecom New Zealand (News - Alert), will implement an ALU converged 100 gigabit-per-second or 100G optical network to a minimum of 30 cities across New Zealand.
- France Telecom-Orange (News - Alert) and Alcatel-Lucent deployed the world's first ever live 400 Gbps-per-wavelength optical link. This is a groundbreaking milestone for long-distance terrestrial network technology.
- U.S. operator C Spire Wireless has selected Tekelec (News - Alert) for LTE new diameter network.
- SK Broadband, a subsidiary of SK Telecom, one of South Korea's largest broadband service providers, has selected Alcatel-Lucent to build South Korea's first packet transport network to support Ethernet service for business customers.
Weekend reading
Finally, here are some recommendations for your weekend reading starting with two Alcatel-Lucent TechZine articles:
If you were unable to participate, by all means check out the recent webinar, SDN: Let’s Cut The Hype, What is the Reality? In addition, the community Resource Center has updated whitepapers, videos and case studies. In fact, two videos I continue to recommend are: Alcatel-Lucent WebRTC dynamic video composition on a webpage, and Alcatel-Lucent iCocoon: Immersive Video Conferencing System.
