Alcatel-Lucent Case Study

Operating from Newport, South Wales, enables network solutions provider Alcatel Lucent to tap into the “local family” ethos of its employees, according to Operations Director, Mike Bampfield.

“This is an area of former heavy industry – the kind of high-tech business we run here is largely the way forward, with the result that the emphasis is on getting people out of universities into the sort of jobs we offer,” he says. “So we have a good, well-motivated workforce and feel part of a local family – we look after our people, and they look after us.”

With some 300 people working for Alcatel Lucent in the city, and with major expansion plans under way, Mike’s point is clearly valid. Established as Newbridge Networks in 1987, the company was bought by French-owned European giant Alcatel in 2000, and merged in 2006 with US-based Lucent to form the biggest telecoms company in the world. The ability to attract and retain top quality staff has been a key to this successful development.

Alcatel Lucent designs network solutions for clients including BT, Sky and Virgin, and mobile phone companies Orange, Vodafone, O2, and T Mobile. If you watch, talk or surf through any of these companies, the chances are you are accessing the service through the accumulated technological know-how of people in Newport.

Alcatel Lucent specialises in the bespoke design of networks for their customers, drawing on consultancy capability, the manufacture of the different components from around the globe, and the ability to install, operate and monitor. Worldwide, the company is a market leader in the broadband arena with limited competition, certainly from anyone who can deliver the full range of solutions that they can.

Its Newport base is part of the company’s representation in the UK, which totals approximately 1,500 employees in Newport, Swindon and Maidenhead.

Highly skilled engineering and project management staff deploy and maintain networks, and train the staff of their client companies to operate them – in fact, a major part of Alcatel Lucent’s Newport operations is its University. Accounting for £3m a year operating costs, it is a significant investment in its own right, employing 15 people engaged full time in organising, hosting and delivering training to clients.

It’s a good illustration of the synergy which Mike talks about. Good hotel infrastructure in the area means that Alcatel Lucent University is a runner as far as the business is concerned – and the hotel business in the regional grateful benefits to the tune of £500K a year.

The company has also invested heavily in Newport in its laboratories – vast basement caverns of computer wizardry and wires which blink and hum 24 hours a day. £250,000 in laboratories and 30m euros in equipment adds up to an environment in which Torchwood would be at home (in fact, their labs were memorably used as the set for an episode of the current hugely successful BBC television series).

At any one time, they are running tests for networks they operate for the Highways Agency, BT and Orange, monitoring performance, and on the lookout endlessly for ways to improve them.

Ultimately, Alcatel Lucent has chosen to invest, and to continue to invest, in Newport because of the holy grail of a readily available supply of people with the core skills the company needs, a low turnover of staff, and favourable operating costs and salaries.

“We can also add in to that a great living environment – a really important factor,” says Mike. “The social fabric here and the leisure amenities are all very good. We can offer city and the countryside, and the work-life balance is good.

“Top that off with the healthy work ethic I’ve described and the fact that we are not fishing in a competitive pond for limited staff, and you can see how we have continued to be keen to invest in Newport over the years.

“Recruitment is ongoing, as we are two years through a three year plan to double the size of the business, and we fully anticipate that large numbers of our expanding workforce will come from this area.”

Mike Bampfield talking about Alcatel-Lucent in Wales. (1106 Kb)