Optical president resigns from Lucent

Lucent Technologies announced to employees this week that Tim Sullivan, who was president of Lucent’s optical networking group, resigned. The company also is rumored to be carrying out many of its planned layoffs. Many of those layoffs are likely focused on the Optical Networking group, which may be taken apart in pieces or shut down.

Sullivan came to the company in 1998 and will be replaced by long haul solutions vice president and general manager, Frank Galuppo.

“Mr. Sullivan went on to pursue different interests,” said a Lucent spokeswoman. The company plans to reduce its headcount to 45,000 by year-end.

In August, the company shut down all development associated with its MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical-system)-based optical cross connect, the LambdaRouter. At that time, involved employees were also let go.

At this point, the lifeblood of Lucent’s optical portfolio is the company’s metro DMX product, which has been sold to 45 customers so far, according to Lucent officials. When Lucent dumped the LambdaRouter, Kathy Zselag, vice president of marketing for Lucent Technologies, pointed to Lucent’s DMX line and access technologies as much stronger areas for the company.

“Some carriers may start with OADMs (optical add drop multiplexer) but that will be slow,” Zselag said. “Most will stick with point-to-point.”

Rumors are also emanating from other vendors that claim the company is close to shutting down its softswitch development.

Lucent plans to make announcements regarding its product portfolio in a couple weeks during its earnings call, according to the spokeswoman.