SA is a global company, headquartered in
France that provides hardware, software and services to
Telecommunications service providers and enterprises. Alcatel sells equipment for mobile and fixed voice communication networks, data networks and television and video delivery. Moreover it features a Transport Solutions Division that sells
Railway Signalling equipment and
Automatic Train Protection System s for urban and mainline railways.
It is most well known for its .
It has several notable non-network-based businesses. For example, Alcatel Space is a leading builder of satellite systems with its
Geosynchronous spacecraft platform, Spacebus 3000 and 4000, and its
LEO spacecraft platform, Proteus. It also has a Transport Solutions division that provides
routing, control and network management for railway and mass transit operators, such as city undergrounds in Berlin, London and New York.
Genesys , a U.S. subsidiary, is the world leader in providing call center software.
Headquartered in
Paris (
France ), rue de la Boétie, with significant operations in and around Paris, Alcatel has a long history beginning in
1898 with the founding of Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE). The original home of the company was the
Alsace region -- the name "Alcatel" comes from a small telephone company, "sacienne de '''Ca'''bles et de '''Tel'''ephones" -- and it still maintains R&D operations in the
Strasbourg area.
There were a number of mergers and acquisitions, as well as divestments since 1898. To understand the current company and its focus on telecommunications, the most important were the acquisition of the European telecommunications activities of
ITT in
1986 . The combined companies were called Alcatel Alsthom. Alcatel maintains significant R&D presence in France (Paris region, Brittany, South of France),
Antwerp (
Belgium ), at the former ITT operations there (Bell Telephone), in
Stuttgart (
Germany ),in
India (
Gurgaon ,
Noida and
Chennai ) and since
2000 in
Shanghai (
China ).
Since 1990, various North American companies were acquired : Spatial Wireless,Rockwell Technologies, DSC, Xylan, Packet Engines, Assured Access, Newbridge, iMagicTV, TiMetra, eDial ; giving Alcatel a strong U.S. and Canadian presence. Alcatel has its North American headquarters in
Plano , and R&D operations in
Ottawa ,
Mountain View ,
Petaluma ,
Saint John ,
Calabasas , and
Raleigh .
On
April 2 ,
2006 , Alcatel announced a merger with its U.S. competitor,
Lucent . The combined company will have revenues of approximately $25 billion U.S. based on 2005 calendar results.
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On
April 6 , 2006, Alcatel announced it will swap its shares of
Alcatel Alenia Space and
Telespazio for €673 million and a 12.1% stake of
Thales Group (increasing its share to 21.6%).
