Oops, that was "January 2001" when I started at Lucent, by 2002 they were clearly doomed, e.g. the last project I worked on, a media gateway (https://en.wikiped

Oops, that was "January 2001" when I started at Lucent, by 2002 they were clearly doomed, e.g. the last project I worked on, a media gateway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_gateway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_gateway to pair with their then very successful SoftSwitch), was deemed utterly essential for Lucent's future (I read the marketing research documents, which said there was no future for integrated switching systems like the storied 5ESS, who's people worked on this project), and the project was clearly doomed. E.g. not only was first it absolutely minimally resourced, it was then not spared company wide layoffs, and they made a point of boasting about laying off one of the most visible and productive members of the team, undoubtedly to show us no one was deemed essential, and also undoubtedly because he was pointing out problems. The project was canceled not all that long after I left, "and the rest is history".