- "No job losses" pledge as Stratford-upon-Avon closes
- 60 staff to move to Coventry
15 January 2003 -- Marconi today announced that it is consulting staff on a proposed transfer of its ultra-long haul development operations from Stratford-upon-Avon to nearby Coventry.
The proposal is that the Stratford-upon-Avon site will be closed and all 60 staff transferred to Coventry as part of the company's on-going cost reduction plans. No job losses are expected.
Marconi says it remains committed to its dispersion-managed soliton technology developed at Stratford-upon-Avon. This technology allows transmission speeds in excess of 1Tbit/s (1000Gbit/s) over thousands of kilometres, eliminating the current need for high cost regeneration of optical signals.
The proposed withdrawal from the Stratford-upon-Avon site would take place progressively and be complete by the end of March 2003. It is proposed that all employees at the Stratford site will transfer to Coventry where they will continue in their existing roles.
In December 2002, Marconi and IP1 Australia announced the beginning of transmission on the world's longest overland broadband cable link without regeneration, based on technology developed by the team at Stratford-upon Avon.
The new high-speed fibre-optic cable links Perth and Melbourne via Adelaide, with Marconi's soliton-based UPLx160 used for the Adelaide-Perth leg of the network.