Lucent Trims Predictions, Names New COO

Lucent Technologies said Friday that it wouldn't meet its revenue numbers for fiscal 2006 and, in a sign of growing urgency at the networking equipment manufacturer, named its chief financial officer, Frank D'Amelio, as chief operating officer. The COO position has been vacant in recent months.

The firm said it expects annual revenues for the 2006 first quarter, which ended Dec. 31, will be about $2.05 billion, down from the previous quarter's $2.43 billion.

"As a result of the first-quarter performance and a review of our expectations for the remainder of the year, we believe it is prudent to change our full-year revenue guidance at this time," said Lucent chairman and CEO Patricia Russo in a statement.

"While we are clearly disappointed, we consider this to be a temporary setback to the progress we have made, and we are confident that our performance will be much stronger for the remainder of the year."

Lucent pointed to lower sales in the U.S. and China as the reason for the decline in the December quarter's revenues. The firm added that it expects sales in the second half of the year to be higher than the first half.While Lucent had previously estimated its 2006 revenues would increase by a mid-digit percentage, the company said it now anticipates revenues to be flat or to increase in low digits.

D'Amelio joined Lucent's predecessor firm, AT&T, in 1979 and worked in several units at AT&T and Lucent, serving at one point as vice president of product marketing and management for the Switching and Access Solutions Group. The firm has struggled to gain traction over the past two decades.

Russo said Lucent is continuing to seek ways to improve profits and products. "Our customers continue investing in the next generation of networks that will be based on IMS," she said. "And despite this quarter's results, we continue to see opportunities in the market that align with our strengths and investments in IMS."

Lucent Technologies announced in October that it has been chosen by Europe’s TeliaSonera to prepare the European communications service provider for large-scale migration to IPv6.