New CEO Michel Combes introduces his 'Shift Plan' to revitalize the vendor, with Basil Alwan's IP division at the heart of everything

BT Retail chief to take top job as Ian Livingston quits to become government minister

Also in today's EMEA roundup: AlcaLu unveils its Shift Plan; Vodafone ups Kabel Deutschland offer; Orange launches 4G in Spain, Joyn services in France

In an expected move, Marlin Equity Partners has folded Sycamore Networks Solutions, Inc., which it acquired this past January (see “Sycamore Networks Solutions begins new chapter”) into Coriant, the former optical networks business of Nokia Siemens Networks that Marlin purchased this past May (see “Coriant unleashed as Marlin Equity Partners closes acquisition”). Sycamore now becomes Coriant America Inc. and Coriant adds optical mesh switching, multi-service switching, and additional intelligent control plane expertise to its existing line of optical transport and software-defined network (SDN) enabled software platforms, including the newly released Intelligent Optical Control platform

Accedian Networks has unveiled a performance assurance software platform called SkyLIGHT that it says provides the benefits of software-defined networking (SDN) to mobile backhaul applications. SkyLIGHT is designed to support real-time optimization of mobile backhaul performance, even in a multi-vendor network.

Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) CEO Michel Combes today unveiled his vision for how he’ll reshape the company from what he called a “generalist” approach to the market to one that focuses on high-growth areas. The strategy, called “The Shift Plan,” will see Alcatel-Lucent focus on IP networking and ultra-broadband access, shedding assets that fall outside these areas. Combes did not identify specific product and service lines that will be targeted for removal. However, initial indications were positive for the company’s current optical-related business lines.