Nortel Networks, Canada’s biggest tech story (3)
October 31st, 2007 · by Heri · Technology
The canadian edition of PC World has a very interesting article about Nortel Networks and its story. According to the article, Nortel transformed Ottawa into the nation’s tech capital.
More than 60 high tech manufacturers and telecom service providers can trace their roots to Nortel, according to a 1999 report on the country’s capital region, and the high tech industry that fuels Ottawa’s growth.
Today, Nortel’s digital equipment is the beating heart of almost every single one of the top 25 service provider networks in the world. Statistics Canada says the company accounts for more than 15% of all private sector R&D and 85% of telecom R&D in Canada.
Hi Heri, interesting post and article.
While Nortel has had and continues to have a signficant role in shaping Ottawa as a technology centre. I believe that those companies started by Terry Mathews have an equal if not larger role in shaping the cities technology character. If you look at the senior managers in many Ottawa companies you will probably find more people from Newbridge or Mitel than Nortel.
While Nortel is a very interesting company that certainly deserves more recognition for its past accomplishments, do yourself a favour and stay away from this article. Once you get past the fluff, you’ll rapidly realise that the author knows next to nothing about the history of telecom, let alone its business and technology aspects. Oh, and by the way, the AT&T breakup was in 1984, not 1956; that was the signing of a consent decree between AT&T and the U.S. Justice Department (Sigh).
daniel, i have to say I am ignorant on what’s up in ottawa and the real history of Nortel (although I still know the history of telecommunications)
I guess I relied on PCWorld’s status for this article.
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