Top-level career shifts Orr joins BBT, Prabhu takes his place at Alcatel >BY WAYNE CARTER and SHIRA LEVINE

In the wake of David Orr's departure as chief executive officer of Alcatel Network Systems for the top spot at BroadBand Technologies Inc., Alcatel is slightly reshaping its management structure.

Krish Prabhu, Alcatel Telecom executive vice president and a member of Alcatel's executive committee, was named last week to succeed Orr. Prabhu, 42, who joined Alcatel in 1984, had been with the Network Systems division in Richardson, Texas, until about 15 months ago. The company then transferred him to Belgium to spearhead Alcatel's venture into asymmetrical digital subscriber line development and transmission, access and submarine network operations worldwide.

Prabhu's responsibilities as Network Systems CEO will differ from Orr's not only in that Prabhu will oversee his three European divisions but also in that he will not be responsible for NAFTA-area coordination, as Orr was.

Alcatel is divided into business divisions and geographic regions. Instead of taking charge of the NAFTA region as Network Systems CEO, Alcatel's executive committee decided that Prabhu should continue to oversee the three French divisions. Jozef Cornu, president and chief operating officer of Alcatel Telecom, will be interim NAFTA-area coordinator until Alcatel names a permanent replacement for Orr.

Prabhu said Alcatel's decision to move him back to Richardson but leave the French divisions under his control indicates how important the U.S. market is to Alcatel.

"We have the challenge of making ADSL a true big-time business," he said. "That's going to start here in the U.S.

Prabhu is taking over at a crucial time in Alcatel's U.S. market development, said Warren Williams, vice president with the Eastern Management Group, Parsippany, N.J. Orr, 45, had built Alcatel's U.S. sales to about $1 billion annually, and it's up to Prabhu to build on that.

"I think they've scored one touchdown in establishing a [U.S.] beachhead," he said. "The next must be scored in terms of volume.

Meanwhile, Orr's reputation precedes him at BBT, where company founder, President and CEO Salim Bhatia is ceding a great deal of his authority to the newcomer.

"David is a very good asset to have," Bhatia said. "He has a strong track record.

Orr's history in the telecom equipment business, including management positions at Rockwell International and GTE, particularly appealed to BBT.

"We had a few other candidates with extremely good track records but not with the telecom equipment experience that David has," Bhatia said. Orr was not available for comment.

Bhatia will become chairman of the company, while founder and Chairman John Hutchins will be named chairman emeritus and remain on the board of directors.

"This allows me to focus on the future," Bhatia said. "I'll be able to extend the vision of the company, knowing that the present is well taken care of."