BURYING BELLCORE

Critics of Telcordia's long-running efforts to overhaul itself and its Bell-laden image view the recently confirmed news that the company is again up for sale as a sign that those endeavors have failed. On the contrary, we believe the sale could be the final step in Telcordia's successful attempt to reinvent and reintroduce itself to the telecom world — but that all depends on what entity buys it.

Telcordia's reinvention did not begin when its former owners, the Bell companies, spun off their R&D arm and sold it to SAIC in 1997. That transaction represented little more than new ownership and a name change for the company. It didn't spur much in the way of management alterations, and although some initiatives were launched to pursue business outside the traditional and lucrative realm of Belldom, the overhaul seemed superficial at best.

Real independence — in the form of new blood, new focus and new ambition — only truly began in 2002, when SAIC appointed longtime industry executive Matt Desch, late of the VC world and a long tenure leading divisions of Nortel Networks, as the new CEO of Telcordia. In retrospect, it's possible that SAIC pursued Desch to run the company as part of a plan to make Telcordia more attractive to future potential suitors. If that's the case, the strategy worked like a charm.

Under Desch's leadership, Telcordia has reorganized and re-energized. New divisions led by competent and experienced executives are now aggressively pursuing business in wireless, cable and other non-Bell sectors, in addition to maintaining and improving the company's relationships with its longtime customers. Perhaps most important, Desch's industry reputation and management talent have helped Telcordia attract aggressive, forward-looking talent with deep service provider experience and contacts from the ranks of Lucent Technologies, Nortel, ADC and countless other vendors.

All that's left to complete the transformation of Telcordia is new ownership — ownership more intimately connected to the telecom service provider community and ownership that understands how Telcordia's advanced and unique technology resources can address carriers' needs. It is possible that SAIC could find an acceptable buyer in one of the large software and systems vendors out there that lacks a complete telecom OSS suite and would benefit from Telcordia's holdings. But that kind of acquisition would obliterate the unique position and opportunity Telcordia has in the industry.

We believe the perfect buyer exists right under the noses of SAIC, in the form of the executives responsible for completing the ultimate successful renovation of the former Bellcore. SAIC should sell Telcordia to them.