Nortel continues to struggle; reorganizes again Brampton ON-based Nortel Networks Corp. has sold portions of its optical components business as the company continues to struggle against the ongoing telecom doldrums. Nortel announced today that it has agreed to sell certain assets of this operating unit to UK-based Bookham Technology plc for US$108 million in common shares, debt, warrants and cash. "This transaction is an important step in our path to profitability and our strategy to focus on the delivery of high performance, cost-effective optical network solutions for our customers," Nortel’s optical networks president Brian McFadden said in a news release. While the equipment manufacturer is unloading key optical technology, it continues to tout the benefits of its wireless strategy. In an address to analysts last week, Pascal Debon, president of Nortel’s wireless networks division, highlighted the company’s strategy for delivering a converged network architecture. The telecommunications equipment maker’s strategy is based on packetized voice, IP networking and more spectrally efficient access technologies. During the address Debon said that Nortel’s architecture is designed to reduce the cost of transmitting network traffic by as much as tenfold. While Debon touted the benefits of the company’s wireless strategy, Nortel announced another restructuring following another revenue warning. Late last month, the company warned that Q3 revenue would be 15 per cent lower than the previous quarter. The company had earlier warned that revenues would be 10 per cent lower than revenues achieved in Q2. The equipment maker then announced that it would reorganize its business into four units from three. The former metro and enterprise networks division has now been divided into two separate units. The wireless and optical networks divisions remain the same. With this latest round of restructuring, speculation abounds that Nortel is either readying itself to sell its least productive unit or it will announce another round layoffs. "As we continue to position Nortel Networks for profitability, the changes we are announcing today will result in an enhanced performance-driven business model that will ensure greater accountability and customer alignment," Nortel’s president and CEO Frank Dunn said in a news release.
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Following are some of the comments of University of Waterloo PhD student Matthew Skala to the ongoing CRTC process examining Internet retransmission (PN 2002-38). Skala came to international attention when he and a colleague reverse-engineered the censorware program Cyber Patrol in 1999.
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Michael Geist, a recognized expert on Internet law and frequent media commentator, has moved law firms. Geist is now with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, serving the firm on a national basis as a technology counsel. He will continue to be based in Ottawa, and will continue to teach at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of law. Geist was formerly with Goodmans LLP.
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Throne Speech mystery won’t be revealed for days: Heritage Canadian Heritage officials are staying mum on a statement in the Sept. 30 Speech from the Throne indicating some kind of merger between two of Canada’s chief cultural agencies. The speech reads: "The government will ensure that as Canadians take charge of their future, they will have access to their history by creating a new institution that brings together the National Archives of Canada and the National Library of Canada, providing new tools to reach Canadians, young and old." The two bodies have been among the main recipients of digitization funding under the Canadian Culture Online Program. Heritage officials won’t comment, though, on what the speech meant, saying only that details will be released in the coming days. The speech also held a few goodies for new media industry observers. The government has promised to "revise Canadian copyright rules to ensure that Canada has a progressive regime that supports increased investment in knowledge and cultural works," a process already underway through several consultations and a section 92 review of the Copyright Act. Ottawa has also promised new funding for research and innovation. The full speech is available at http://canada.gc.ca/cgi-bin/redirect.pl?http://www.sft-ddt.gc.ca/sft.htm.
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Quebec multimedia producers are pursuing "cordial" talks with the Union des Artistes (UDA) in the province toward an overarching production agreement between the parties, likely to be hammered out in one year. Both sides confirm that initial meetings toward an agreement between producers and artists in multimedia productions have taken place, but in-depth negotiations on the issues will have to wait until the producers’ association, the Bureau des producteurs en contenu interactif (BPCI), hires new legal staff.
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The participation of the American Express Foundation was almost entirely responsible for a $1-million overhaul to the National Gallery of Canada’s Cybermuse web site. Without funding from the Canadian Culture Online Program, the gallery has built a rich new educational site using cutting-edge technology to put its holdings at the fingertips of users, particularly children.
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The web can be used to drive viewers to a television show and vice-versa, says the producer of the new technology show Web Watch, but content geared toward the Internet niche could be the deciding role in making the model work. WestWind Pictures’ Web Watch, which launched on the Saskatchewan public broadcaster SCN on September 23, makes heavy use of an interactive web site that the producer hopes will involve users through chat and feedback options to help mould future episodes.
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Personalization will be key to the success of a new music streaming service offered by Bell Canada, setting it apart from a raft of existing music services already on the market and some offered for free. On September 25, Bell Canada launched a nationwide streaming service from U.S. company MUSICMATCH Inc., available to users for $7.95 per month, or $59.95 annually.
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JumpTV.com Inc. will launch 15-20 specialty television stations streamed online next month on a subscription basis, says its president and CEO. Farrel Miller tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the stations will be offered securely for between US$7.95 and US$9.95 per month and that he has deals with the broadcasters to proceed.
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