Warrior event was still in everyone’s memory. It is for these reasons among others that STC (UK) rejected the Alcatel‘s suggestion to come with a joint bid, to offer a “European” solution. One of the winning factors has been the Port-Botany cable factory. Such a factory was a strong requirement from OTC (now Telstra) and the Australian Government. Alcatel was the most motivated. Such a factory could expand its influence in the Pacific where the three other players were historically well established in this region, which represents a large part of their market. They saw this factory as a risk for their existing facilities! Jocteur has been the true leader in terms of fiber and Laboratories, in the R&D environment. Meeting SubOptic ‘87 in Versailles came at the right time. cable design! He drove the development program, with him was for me fresh air, an opening toward the It is where the Australian teams discovered the including two experimental links: Cannes-Juan les future. He had the gentleness of the strong people, and l’Astrolabe, landed in 1788 to discover that French a close cooperation between Pins (20kmmodel, 1982), Antibes-Port Grimaud (80km the ones who have a natural authority coming from Captain Cook was around the bearing Alcatel exactly what wanted to esand and a firstFT, commercial link they in 1987 between their competency, theiralready vision, without need tothe 1984), British Baytheir is now tablish in country. andtheir Ajaccio (400Km). TAT 8 came to raise theirflag. voiceSoorBotany to remind statusfororme theirthe Marseilles life in 1988. It was a 2 fibers system, 280 Mb,but position hierarchy. was observing the symbolinofthe a dream whichHebecomes a reality! My friend, things pairs are changed since, single channel per fiber, with a sophisticated BU highly paid “managers”, and their behavior with Tasman 2 has been yet another chapter one thing stays true: When you offer something, the traffic between UK and France!! 20 aninamusing smile. He knew that creative people this long Anglo-French competition! The splitting the reader can see between the lines if you are years ago! like him will always be treated like “travelling award to Alcatel came out as a big surprise to or not genuinely motivated and sincere. Then I sincerely hope that the submarine players of acrobats”. many, including inside Alcatel. Everybody was your offerthem becomes really attractive and this today, among the ones attending PTC, realize He was born in Lyon, the second main French naturally expecting the British to win that batopens the route to “Botany Bay.” the merits of these pioneers who brought this new town, but the second of none in his mind. When tle,Alcatel and such expectation was at that time technology to life and then to maturity. Since then the Cableanheadquarters moved from Lyon the technology continuously evolved, and tovery Parislogical. area, Jocteur decided that he would never See you has soon. leave Lyon! Andwere so heso did!many difficulties and Jocteur was convinced that science and technology There Alcatel should raise a between memorial toAustralia him, because misunderstanding and are fundamental to the progress of humanity. I have now lost my brother in arms. We had the itFrance, is reallythe thanks to a handful of persons including main one being the French presence Submarcom Consulting same fights. him that Alcatel managed to participate in TAT 8, in the Pacific area, the worse being the nuclear the very first long haul optical system. The decision experiment in Tahiti! The sadoccasion Rainbow tobomb introduce the new technology at this
Letter to a friend from Jean Devos
My dear friend, My friend, like most of the readers of my letter, you probably do not remember Robert Jocteur. This name does not ring a bell, but stay with me, since you most likely have “your” Jocteur in your own environment. It is only when I tried to send Robert Jocteur “Botany Bay” my Christmas message last month that I was at discovering that he novel, had passed away Istunned published recently a modest whose title last September! And I hadn’t been made aware of is Botany Bay. It is the place in Australia where it! How is that possible that such a man leaves us Alcatel established a without any noise? submarine cable facSince we had both retired from the submarine in 1989 as partofof cable activity we used to tory exchange a couple its contract for old the emails each year, pursuing this way a 40 year Tasman link. In this dialog and complicity. Among all the2 people from the Alcatel group I had worked with, he was the one same bay, where two I felt the closest, with whichcenturies I had morebefore affinities. the He was my technical teacher, my technology French expedition adviser when I was bringing the market trend and “La Pérouse” made of competition status to him! La Boussole We have both served two ourships, company with dedication and loyalty during 40 years, but our top management was a bit nervous to perceive that we were “somewhere else”. Our priority, our “religion,” our belonging, was the submarine cable community. For Jocteur it was also the scientific community. He was a free man, an intellectual, a scientist, an academic, a wise man. He was “at home” in the
My Dear Friend
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My brother in arms
Jean Devos
Jean Devos
was taken by ATT! Quite a surprise and a challenge for Alcatel! ATT /Bell Labs were at least a year in advance in terms of technology development, and ATT was determined to build TAT 8 by itself and take advantage on the market. I’m not sure ASN would have survived with an absence in TAT 8 or a failure on this highly visible and qualifying program.
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