Alcatel-Lucent evaluates area staff

The once-bustling Lisle-Naperville campus of Lucent Technologies continues to feel the tremors of a shaky industry and a major merger.

Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent said Tuesday it continues to streamline operations worldwide, including here.

"We are reviewing the occupancy needs of all of our large facilities in North America, including the Lisle/Naperville campus, for both near- and long-term business requirements," Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Mary Lou Ambrus said. "While our review is in progress, I can tell you that no decision has been made to close either the Lisle or Naperville facility."

Overall the campus remains a research-and-development center and the company continues to work toward improving its operational efficiency, she said.

"In Naperville, the company continues to consolidate its North American Data Center operations," she said.

In Lisle, the Building 4 entrance recently closed as a cost measure and the guard was transferred to Naperville, where there is more employee traffic.

The campus, which housed 10,500 workers in 2001, now has about 4,000 employees and contractors who focus on wireless technology.

After Alcatel and Lucent closed its merger agreement in 2006, the new company said it would save about $1.7 billion through 2009 and eliminate about 10,000 jobs worldwide.

"A lot of companies have closed remote facilities or made cuts, like 3Com and Nortel Networks," said David Weissman, senior telecom analyst with Zacks Investment Research. "It's rampant."