Monday morning I tweeted from the Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise Dynamic Tour 2011 event, "Finally! A strong story from Maria Pardee, Global Acct. strategy from #ALUEnterprise on the value of the carrier assets in the enterprise biz." The "finally" referred to a platitude that has been heard from communications solutions companies with carrier and enterprise divisions repeatedly over the last ten years: that there are synergies between the two businesses.
Lucent apparently didn't believe in synergies back in 2000 when they chose to divest themselves of the enterprise business and divested what is now Avaya. Nortel tried to pitch the benefits of having both businesses, but its carrier and enterprise businesses ended up being worth more individually than together as well. When Alcatel bought Lucent they too got on the bandwagon of the synergies to be had from the two portfolios, but until recently, there was no substance to the claim. And who can forget Siemens LifeWorks, "removing the fragmented communication experience of users and the barriers between private and public networks."
The problem with the notion of eliminating the barriers between public and private networks is that the service providers weren't really interested--and it couldn't happen without them. What's happening now is that large organizations are becoming their own carriers. In verticals like healthcare, utilities, education and government, single or multi-campus networks are being built using private cable over right-of-way or leased dark fiber.
Carrier solutions are bringing big dollars to the enterprise division. Maria Pardee, ALU-E's SVP for Global Account Sales told analysts that about 30% of the revenue she is driving from Global 50 accounts is coming from the carrier routers and switches being sold to companies like University of Pittsburg Medical Center.
In the video below, Dave Richards of Alcatel-Lucent's Internet Products Division in Ottawa talks about why his business and products were represented in the Exposition Hall in Barcelona.
