Nortel Consolidates Components Businesses

Nortel Networks Corp. of Brampton, Ontario, Canada, has formed High Performance Optical Components Solutions. The new unit consolidates Nortel's optical components group with its design and development efforts in high-speed optical modules and integrated circuits, affecting approximately 6000 employees at its facilities in Harlow and Paignton, UK; Ottawa; and Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Barbara Callaghan has been named president of the unit, which will focus on the production of lasers, high-bandwidth receivers, transmit and receive modules, and semiconductor chips. The move follows on the heels of the $3.25 billion acquisition of Xros Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based manufacturer of optical cross connects, and the purchase of CoreTek Inc., a manufacturer of tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers in Wilmington, Mass., for $1.43 billion in stock.