Alcatel Lucent opens global cloud unit in Israel

Alcatel Lucent SA  today officially launched its global cloud computing center in Israel, keeping its promise made when it recently closed its optics R&D center and fired scores of employees. The new business unit will include an R&D center that will focus on developing cloud-based smart, open, and secure architectures for communications carriers worldwide.Alcatel Lucent appointed Dor Skuler, 34, as VP cloud enablement to manage the new center. He said, “The decision to open the cloud unit in Israel was made after a thorough examination of several alternative sites in the world. The reasons include Israel’s high-quality personnel and software engineers, its entrepreneurial spirit, and existing cloud concentration. The new unit in Israel will operate as an internal start-up in terms of speed, flexibility, and rapid decision-making. It will have scores of employees by the end of 2011.”

Skuler was previously Alcatel Lucent VP strategy and business development. He told “Globes” that the new center will be more than just R&D, and that he is also looking for production and operations managers. He added that the center would employ scores of people depending on demand and the market, since it was a global operation managed from Israel.

Skuler said that the decision to set up the center in Israel was related to the fact that the country has a critical mass of people with the understanding and capabilities in IT and telecommunications.