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Nortel in Ottawa
Nortel's Ottawa-based operations are unique within the corporation.
Product development for all of the company's lines of business -- Broadband
Networks, Enterprise Networks, Public Carrier Networks, and Wireless Networks
-- is conducted here, as well as advanced research as part of Nortel's
Advanced Technology Program, manufacturing, marketing, and operations.
Although product development and research are key thrusts in the region,
Nortel's Ottawa facilities are evolving to become the focal point for a
growing number of strategically important global Nortel businesses, including
data communications.
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Enterprise Networks -- The main focus is multimedia network solutions,
primarily delivered by Magellan Passport, an ATM (asynchronous transfer
mode) network switch. Magellan customers operate mission critical networks
in such industries as finance, transportation, health care, and utilities.
The Magellan business unit, the number one wide-area network provider globally,
is headquartered in Ottawa.
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Public Carrier Networks -- Developers are involved in numerous initiatives,
including the development of Internet-related offerings, a multi-processing
computing platform for the DMS switching system, and telecom services and
features targeted at global markets.
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Wireless Networks -- In just four years, Nortel has emerged as the third-largest
supplier of wireless systems, and the major radio systems work underpinning
this success is done in Ottawa. The emphasis is on developing and applying
key wireless technologies (including algorithms), and defining new wireless
access systems and innovative wireless terminals.
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Broadband Networks -- Nortel is the world's leading supplier of high-speed
optical transport systems and high-speed ATM switching solutions to carriers
operating around the world. Ottawa is a major contributor to that success.
Developers are responsible for the design of high-speed optical transmission
products based on the SONET (synchronous optical network) standard, transport
network management systems, and intelligent network platforms.
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Advanced Technology Program -- Ottawa is a prime location for Nortel's
Advanced Technology Program, which identifies and explores the technologies
that will meet the future business opportunities of customers. Developers
in this area focus on next-generation platforms, products, and equipment
that can be combined to provide complete customer solutions.
In addition to approximately 6,700 employees engaged in advanced research
and product development, Nortel employs nearly 2,300 employees dedicated
to manufacturing, marketing, operations, and services. In fact, although
product development and research will continue to be key thrusts in the
region, Nortel's Ottawa facilities are evolving to become the focal point
for a growing number of strategically important global Nortel businesses.
Already here are Nortel's data communications, advanced components, and
information security businesses:
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The region is headquarters to Nortel's global data communications business,
a Cdn$900 million (US$700 million) business enjoying solid growth. Nortel
is currently the world leader in a number of datacom market segments, including
the ATM Enterprise Switch Market. Ottawa is Nortel's leading development
center for products aimed at the data communications market, including
the Magellan portfolio of data and broadband multimedia networking products.
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The region is the central location for Nortel's Advanced Components organization
on Corkstown Road, which explores, develops, and manufactures semiconductors
and other components that are major contributors to the world-leading success
of Nortel products.
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Ottawa is also headquarters for Entrust Technologies, a new company established
by Nortel in January of this year. Entrust is now a leading provider of
software products for the encryption and security of corporate information
communicated over the Internet and intranets.
The Ottawa region is home to the largest concentration of Nortel employees
in the world. With the corporation's June 6, 1997 announcement, that presence
will expand again. Nortel will hire 5,000 knowledge workers in the Ottawa
region over the next four years to meet the burgeoning demand for Nortel
products around the world. To support this growth, Nortel is investing
Cdn $250 million, or one-quarter of a billion dollars, to upgrade and expand
the company's research, product development, and business base.
Nortel's workforce in the region -- which currently surpasses 10,000
people -- is expected to grow by well over 1,200 people annually over the
next four years. By the year 2000, Nortel is expected to employ more than
15,000 people in the Ottawa region.
To accommodate the dramatic infusion of new knowledge workers, Nortel
has refurbished its original R&D location on the Carling campus (now
called Corporate Design House), has expanded its Woodline facility, and
will add new buildings to the Carling campus.
Nortel has 20 facilities in and around Ottawa. Just a few miles west
of Canada's national capital, on Carling Avenue, in a high-tech area known
as "Silicon Valley North," stands the Carling campus, the corporation's
largest research and product development complex -- and the heart of its
core technology research.
The Carling campus consists of six major buildings:
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Lab 1, home to Nortel Advanced Technology, which develops many of the corporation's
optoelectronic devices and high-speed integrated circuits;
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Lab 2, which houses the corporation's Terminal Design Group and Global
Enterprise services;
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Lab 3, the location of various multidisciplinary software and hardware
designers, as well as the site's main captive office and library
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Lab 4, one of the most advanced clean-room facilities in the world, which
supports the development work of Nortel's Advanced Technology Laboratory
staff;
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Lab 5, a 600,000-square-foot (55,740-square-meter) building opened in 1993
to house designers and developers, the Customer Visit Center, and Nortel
Technology's executive staff; and
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Corporate Design House, which was recently renovated and upgraded to house
the Corporate Design Group, an anechoic (no echo) acoustic laboratory,
technical support services, and market and product support groups. This
building was first used by Nortel (then called Northern Electric) to launch
the company's R&D programs in the 1960s.
With Nortel's June 6, 1997 announcement, the Carling facility -- which
is already the largest industrial high-tech campus in the country -- is
set to expand again to include an additional 600,000-square-feet of product
development facilities. Construction will commence in mid-1997 with occupancy
scheduled for December 1998. When completed, the Carling campus will have
more than two million square feet of space dedicated to advanced research,
product development, and business and marketing activities.
In addition to Carling, there are several other R&D facilities in
the Ottawa area:
Skyline, the company's second largest lab after Carling, which designs
and develops fiber-optic and radio transmission products, wireless products,
and DMS research and development. The eight-building complex -- divided
into Skyline West and Skyline East -- is six miles (10 kilometers) from
the Carling complex.
Skyline West consists of Tower 5, Tower 7, and Skylink, which links
the two towers and houses labs, two captive offices, and employee services.
The major programs include development of:
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Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) fiber-optic transmission products,
including the S/DMS TransportNode OC-12 and OC-48 products which were launched
in 1990, as well as the next-generation OC-3 Express and OC-192 platforms.
Skyline West is headquarters for SONET optical product development, and
draws upon Nortel facilities in Monkstown, Northern Ireland and Harlow,
England, to ensure the global reach of next-generation products;
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SONET radio;
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optical amplifier-based products, which are an integral part of long-distance
fiber optics networks;
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all OAM software for network management of the S/DMS product line, including
the S/DMS Network Manager platform; and
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wireless products, including American Cellular hardware, AMPS/TDMA and
CDMA software and system development for various basestation platforms,
and several Proximity terminals. Other significant developments primed
by the Radio group in Skyline West include PCS 1900, Micro-BTS, PCS 1900/GSM
fixed access units, Omnipoint systems, and broadband radio. The Radio group
is also developing wireless technologies that will support the goals of
the Wireless Networks line of business (LOB) and other Nortel LOBs two
to five years from now.
Skyline West is equipped with captive offices and labs to support a full
range of development and product support activities. For instance, approximately
20,000 square feet of labs and captive offices, located in Tower 5 and
Skylink, support the S/DMS TransportNode development program.
At Skyline East, the focus is on the DMS Generic Services Framework
(GSF) program -- the new call-processing software for DMS products -- as
well as the Global DMS-100 and DMS-300 products.
Skyline East consists of towers 1 through 4. Towers 1 and 2 house the
following groups: Supernode Data Manager (SDM) Platform development, Global
DMS-300, Global Enterprise Systems (GES), Network Application Vehicle (NAV),
and Broadband Network Carrier. The Public Carrier Network group is located
in towers 1, 2, 3, and 4. In addition, Stentor (the umbrella organization
representing Canada's nine major telephone companies) maintains offices
on the first floor of Tower 1.
Global 100 Services resides in towers 3 and 4. Tower 3 houses Global
100 executive and support, the Global100 Asian Pacific CALA, GISDN, GSF
ISDL, GLINES, and GSSP/AIN groups, plus some TransportNode group employees.
Tower 4 contains a captive office, as well as the ICP (Independent Certification
Project), Global 100 Services, GSF DRU (Development Release Unit), and
Architecture groups.
The Kanata complex, a five-minute drive from the main Carling campus,
houses the Physical Design Integration Group, which focuses on systems
packaging, product integrity, and other areas affecting regulatory and
environmental standards. The Gateway building in Kanata is the home of
the Computing Technology Laboratory, which focuses on advanced computing
technologies.
The Woodline building contains the Technical Training and Nortel's Secure
Networks groups, the Nortel Learning Institute, as well as Nortel human
resources, real estate, supply management, and finance personnel. In June
1997, Nortel announced it will invest $65 million in additional buildings
in the Ottawa region, including a new 200,000-square-foot structure currently
under construction at Nortel's Woodline campus to relieve space constraints
at some of Nortel's 20 locations throughout the region. The new offices
are now ready for occupancy.
In addition to these R&D centers, there are several other Nortel
facilities in the Ottawa area, bringing the corporation's presence in the
region to more than 10,000 employees and making Nortel the largest private-sector
employer in the region. For example:
A major Ottawa-based Nortel site is the 500,000-square-foot (46,450-square-meter)
Corkstown facility, about .6 miles (one kilometer) from Carling. Part of
the Nortel Technology Supply and Components organization, Corkstown is
home to Nortel Semiconductors, which designs and manufactures custom microchips
and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); and Nortel Microwave
Modules, which manufactures modules for wireless and transmission modules.
Corkstown also houses several Nortel supply management groups, including
PACE (Products Assurance Components Engineering).
The newest Ottawa site is Qualicum, a two-tower office complex with
114,700 square feet of space. Tower A houses the Service Builder group,
part of the Broadband Networks organization. Tower B is home to the Emergency
Technical Assistance and Software Delivery groups, both part of Public
Carrier Networks.
Other Nortel satellite locations include the Fitzgerald site, which
is shared by the Nortel enterprise management systems group and information
systems employees.
The Ottawa site's influence extends well beyond its own corporate boundaries.
Former employees have, for example, started some 50 high-technology companies
in the Ottawa area, helping build the critical mass of technological capability
that led to the creation of Silicon Valley North.
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History
The corporation's roots in the Ottawa region date back to 1958, when
Nortel (then Northern Electric) selected Ottawa as the location for a central
laboratory. Ottawa was selected because it was close to respected universities
that offered a growing number of new graduates in engineering and science,
as well as postgraduate training for staff. Ottawa was also home to several
of the Canadian government's large research and product development facilities.
Furthermore, the site offered clean air and a vibration- and noise-free
environment -- two conditions essential for semiconductor work.
Over the years, Ottawa grew to become headquarters for a centralized
R&D organization, under the name Bell-Northern Research (BNR). In 1996,
to make the corporation more responsive to customers in an intensely competitive
environment, BNR's resources were integrated into Nortel's different business
units, where they would be closer to the customer.
Nortel facilities in the Ottawa region play a critical role in transferring
product platforms and core technologies to the other Nortel locations worldwide.
