Pauline Rigby: August 2008 Archives

This August marks the anniversary of a key milestone in optics and telecommunications. It has been 50 years since the publication in Physical Review of the scientific paper that described the concept and design of one of the greatest modern inventions — the laser.

Since chairman Serge Tchuruk and chief executive officer Patricia Russo announced their departures from Alcatel-Lucent, there has been intense speculation over who would take the top jobs at the beleaguered telecoms equipment maker.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, former BT CEO Ben Verwaayen, who was considered a frontrunner to replace Russo, rejected an initial approach from the vendor.

A number of names have been on the short-list, but one that keeps cropping up is Mike Quigley, who this week is named in multiple reports citing French satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaine (translated it means "chained-up duck", which makes a lot more sense when you realise that "canard" is slang for newspaper).

Reports say that the British-born Quigley, who was Alcatel's last chief operating officer before the mega-merger, was overlooked in favour of then-Lucent chief Pat Russo when the time came to pick a CEO for Alcatel-Lucent. He stayed on on the post of "president of science, technology and strategy" before leaving the company last year.

Alcatel-Lucent has said it is looking for a leader who could provide the "fresh and independent perspective", who will take the merger to the next stage, acquiring "a personality of its own, independent from its two predecessors". Apparently a former employee could fit the bill.

Speculation and satire aside, in an interview with French daily newspaper Le Figaro, outgoing chairman Tchuruk said that the new leadership of Alcatel-Lucent would be announced shortly.