Nortel Networks
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| Public | |
| Traded as |
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| Industry | |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Founded | 1895 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Headquarters | Mississauga, Ontario, Canada |
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Number of employees
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| Parent |
AT&T / Bell Canada (1895-1956) Bell Canada (1956-1983) BCE Inc. (1983-2000) |
| Website | www |
Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited, Northern Electric and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec in 1895 as the Northern Electric and Manufacturing Company. At its height, Nortel accounted for more than a third of the total valuation of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), employing 94,500 people worldwide.
Nortel's 2009 bankruptcy case—the largest in Canadian history—left pensioners, shareholders and former employees with enormous losses while Nortel executives continued to draw "retention bonuses" totaling $190M US during the eight-year post-bankruptcy period. Nortel had filed for protection from its creditors in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in January 2009. In June 2009, the company announced it would cease operations and sell off all of its business units. The period of bankruptcy protection was extended to February 2, 2013. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings in the United States, Nortel Networks Inc. publishes monthly operating reports outlining cash receipts and disbursements. By 2016 Nortel had sold billions of dollars worth of assets.
Alexander Graham Bell conceived the technical aspects of the telephone and invented it in July 1874, while residing with his parents at their farm in Tutela Heights, on the outskirts of Brantford, Ontario. He later refined its design at Brantford after producing his first working prototype in Boston. Canada's first telephone factory, created by James Cowherd of Brantford, was a three story brick building that soon started manufacturing telephones for the Bell System, leading to the city's style as The Telephone City.
After Cowherd's death in 1881 which resulted in the closure of his Brantford factory, a mechanical production department was created within the Bell Telephone Company of Canada and production of Canadian telephones and telephone equipment was transferred to Montreal in 1882, due to restrictions on importing telephone equipment from the United States. In addition to phones, four years later, the department started manufacturing its first switchboard, a 50 line Standard Magneto Switchboard. The small manufacturing department expanded yearly with the growth and popularity of the telephone to 50 employees in 1888. By 1890 it had been transformed into its own branch of operations with 200 employees, and a new factory was under construction.
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Wikipedia