Letter to a friend Letter to a friend from Jean JeanDevos Devos
My dear friend, Suboptic: A Celebration
My Dear Friend
It was a pleasure to see you at the Lisbon “Submarine Communications 2006” conference last month. I have enjoyed our dinner on the river side where we discussed at length which great personality, which big name it would be good to “Botany Bay” invite to Suboptic 07 in Baltimore next year. Three names emerged among aothers: Billnovel, Clinton, Bill title I published recently modest whose Gates and Colin Powell. Somewhat more attractive Bay. the place in Australia is Botany than what we hadItatisprevious session: A narrowwhere Alcatel a minded politician in San Francisco, anestablished hermetic philosopher in Kyoto and a low profile chairman in submarine cable facMonaco! We deserve somebody with a vision! tory in 1989 as part of contract The underlined idea was that its the world needsfor an the optimised telecom infrastructure, a truly globalIn this Tasman 2 link. network. Building such an infrastructure is a same bay, mission. Each of these three leaders couldwhere crediblytwo illustrate and endorse such a message. Most of the the centuries before projects at this moment are designed to connect very French expedition remote countries or territories which were kept out “La Pérouse” made of of the modern broad band network. No community, two ships, La Boussole
notWarrior need just another need a It event wasTelecom still inconference. everyone’sWe memory. family gathering, where we draw the picture of our (UK) is for these reasons among others that STC community, and where we plan the future staying rejected Alcatel‘s suggestion to come with a loyal to our the roots. joint bid, to offer a “European” solution. I do hope the organiser of the coming event will One of The thesuccess winning factors should has been the stay on that line. of Suboptic factory.ofSuch a factory notPort-Botany be measured cable by the number attendees only, was a butstrong by theirrequirement quality-I mean people who have from OTC (now Telstra) and something to bring or something to learn- and the the of Australian Government. spread them.-I mean people from all around the Alcatel was the most a world making a multicultural event.motivated. The successSuch of Suboptic 07 is a Tyco challenge, but it is everyone’s factory could expand its influence in the Pacific job, because it is in everyone’s best interest. where three players were historically Each of usthe should feelother committed to promote this event, do whatever to stimulate welland established in possible this region, which the represents attendance, especially from the developing world. a large part of their market. They saw this The organizers, but us also, needs to think “out of aswork a risk their ideas existing facilities! thefactory box”, and out for innovative toward cost effective solutions such as group package, etc. SubOptic ‘87 in Versailles came at the right time. It is where the Australian teams discovered the My friend, at the very end of our Lisbon dinner French a close – was it duemodel, to the “vino verde”cooperation - you told me: between “I doAlcatel not thinkand I’ll FT, attend Suboptic 07. I don’t see my to esexactly what they wanted management approving this spending for a 3 days tablish in their country. conference in Baltimore”. This statement is why I Myyou friend, changed that since, but am writing today. things Tell yourare management attending Suboptic is a must for whoever wants to one thing stays true: When you offer something, play a role in our business whether Bill Gates is theorreader there not! can see between the lines if you are or not genuinely motivated and sincere. Then Notyour attending like not celebrating Easter for and a offerisbecomes really attractive this Catholic, or not going to the Mecca pilgrimage for a opensAsthe route “Botany Muslim. simple as to that, an act ofBay.” faith!
even small, can afford to stay away from such a development. Access to broadband internet is now as vital as water supply or electricity. Most of these and l’Astrolabe, landed in 1788 tosometimes discover that projects are “governmental “initiative, with the World Bank support. Suboptic 07 Captain Cook was already around needs bearing the to show a new business culture: Our capabilities British flag. So Botany Bay is now for me the needs to serve the need of the global economy symbol a dream which becomesnetwork a reality! through theofconstruction of an optimised accessible to everyone at fair conditions .This our Tasman 2 has been yet another is chapter duty! Such structure will serve a harmonised world in this long Anglo-French development. Suboptic 07 needs tocompetition! be the gatheringThe to Alcatel came people out asfrom a big surprise to ofaward our community, bringing really all around the world, including the most remote island, many, including inside Alcatel. Everybody was from Svalbard to Tahiti! naturally expecting the British to win that batSuboptic a lightan house designed towas helpat us that at time tle, andis such expectation So...See See you you next year in Jerusalem, I mean… sailing in the right direction. Our business stays very logical. soon. Baltimore! very specific in many ways and Suboptic must be were soWemany difficulties based onThere such specificity. have our culture, our and language. What is our mission, what isAustralia our role? and misunderstanding between How best can we serve? We need to review and France, the main one being the French presence Submarcom Consulting analyse what is happening. We need to revisit some the Pacific area, worse being the ofin our procedures, somethe of our behaviours. We nuclear do bomb experiment in Tahiti! The sad Rainbow
Devos JeanJean Devos
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