Is Alcatel-Lucent a 2.0(€) enterprise ?

The keynote address was quite bewildering: the entire Enterprise Business Group market vision seems to fit in a single buzz word : the Dynamic Enterprise or Enterprise 2.0 for insiders, an avatar of the Web 2.0. Indeed, I wonder if the words "R&D", "innovation", "new products", were ever pronounced when all the speech was about "facebook", "social networking" and "knowledge management".

All this is very well, and there is no doubt that the Web 2.0 is transforming (another overused buzz word;) the way information is produced, accessed and shared, that it is reshaping the ICT landscape but is it really Alcatel-Lucent's core business ? No. Will it be Alcatel-Lucent's business in 5 years ? I do not think so. So it looks like the whole point was to avoid talking about real issues like the lack of strategy in the Enterprise Business Group and the challenges facing the company.

Alcatel transformed itself over the last 7 years into a fabless company (shrinking its workforce by two in the process) merged with transatlantic archrival Lucent 2 years ago, developped its business (sales as well as R&D) in Asia (where it is facing fierce competition from low-cost vendors), all this with no return to profitability so... "what else ?" ;)