It;s not often that Rayleigh is mentioned on an Indian news website – but it was mentioned recently on the Hindu Business Line Website based in Chennai , and it doesn’t look like good news for local jobs:
Bangalore, Sept. 14 Telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks, as part of a strategy to consolidate its global networks operations, is setting up a virtual network operations centre in (V-NOC) in Bangalore to manage the backbone network and switches of its customers in North America and Europe.
Nortel is currently restructuring its business with an aim to reduce cost and turn profitable.
Mr Dietmar Wendt, President (Global Services), Nortel, said the virtual NOC in Bangalore is expected to go live by December and would support about 140 customers including carriers and enterprises that are currently being serviced from NOCs in Rayleigh and London.
The V-NOC in Bangalore, which will employ up to 100 people, is the second such centre for Nortel in India, which already runs a NOC in Gurgaon that manages the telephone networks of customers such as Bharti Enterprises and CLSA in India and the Asia-Pacific region. ?Besides reducing the cost structure, the V-NOC helps Nortel to leverage available skills and be closer to customers in Asia Pacific, the fastest growing region,? Mr Wendt said.
Operating a virtual NOC in India reduces its costs by 30-35 per cent, as compared to running similar operations in the US or Europe. ?There will be transition costs as customers get shifted here,? Mr Wendt said, adding that the company would retain its operations in Rayleigh and London to service some customers.
The full story is here
If any one of our readers can explain the background to this, we’d be grateful….
UPDATE (Tuesday) : We have just found out that these job losses aren’t in Rayleigh, Essex but in Raleigh North Carolina, USA.