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Alca-Lu plots enterprise exit, again

Will anyone want biz phone biz this time?

Alcatel-Lucent once again hopes to exit the enterprise business to concentrate on the carrier and service provider markets.

Reuters is reporting the move as part of Alca-Lu's plan to shed €1 billion worth of assets by 2015. The news agency's sources have told it that Lazard Limited is advising the vendor on the sale.

Finding a buyer could prove a challenge. Alcatel-Lucent tried to find a buyer for the enterprise business in 2011, but at that time, could only manage to offload its Genesys call centre business, which as we reported at the time was probably the most attractive part of the business.

That leaves it trying to sell a telephony-focussed enterprise operation that will probably look outdated to potential buyers, with the market increasingly looking to IP based cloud telephony operations as the next growth engine.

While neither Alcatel-Lucent nor Lazard would comment on the rumours to Reuters, divestment is part of the turnaround strategy espoused by new CEO Michael Coombes.

As previously reported in The Register, Alcatel-Lucent's growth markets aren't in the enterprise business but in its carrier networking operations. ®

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