ntl budget cutbacks

[th'engineer]

Originally Posted by Ignition

Interesting times ahead then, any ntl/Telewest merger will be funded almost exclusively on venture capitalists who bought bonds in expectation of taking control of the company. As I stated elsewhere at some point said VCs are going to want to cash in so I imagine the two will merge and be made more 'efficient' and cash generating then sold to highest bidder.

I think thats a very good point, taking into account the considerable skills that telewest have in networks. Iit will be very good for NTL getting the people with the network skills they require from excellence of Telewest

[Andrex]

Originally Posted by Pierre

You'd be suprised what "critical" / "national" information is carried on the ntl network.

18months ago ntl won a contract for the US Dept of Defence.

It's subjective as to what you call critical. US Dept of Defence? Not critical to me.

[BBKing]

It will be when they stealth bomb your street.

Resegs not happening? Doubt it, I found a whole bunch of new UBRs out on the network this morning - if that isn't investing in capacity for the new speeds I'm a Dutchman. Which I'm not.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Ignition

That's not true I'm afraid not every cabinet has UPS.

Network is running pretty smoothly as a whole though.

Someone said it to me a while ago, Telewest have always been engineering focussed whereas ntl are and have been focussed towards financial gain.

Perversely Telewest outperform ntl financially.... go figure. Possibly speculation means accumulation?

I would fully expect the merger to go the same way as the Cable and Wireless takeover with loads of empire building, jobs for the old boys, regardless of the most efficient way to do it it'll be those managers who can play the politics game best that'll get their way. Probably mean that ntl will win this one, their managers have far more practice, one wonders if more time looking after customer interests and less time guarding their little patch and looking after their friends would have made this a bit different.

EDIT: Not to say all managers are like this in the company! There are some that are focussed more towards the customer than covering their own @rse.

Anyone know who ntl's Chief Technical Officer is, if there is one? I would very much expect to see one in a company of this size.

Something here I can totally agree with you on, empire building and jobs for the boys has been a big downfall for ntl. I think the empire building was the final straw for me during the planning for growth fiasco, I could see managers kissing the backsides of managers further up the ladder and it was obvious who were getting what post. After I left they created a couple of jobs for two callcentre supervisors, they made them Network Operation Managers. They were useless and stayed in those posts until a more suitable position was created for them with installs.
The ones that get on in ntl are the ones constantly looking over their shoulders and out manouvering everyone else, instead of getting on with what they are paid to do.
It's sickening how many times the good ones end up on 30 days notice and just manage to survive another 6 or 12 months, Ignition will probably know this is going on constantly for some managers, I now one who has been on the 30 day list about five times now, he's a good guy but how can he be expected to have any interest now other than surviving! Many people in ntl are now waiting for the next pay cheque as a bonus, and some are more than happy to be made redundant.

Chief Technical officer?

No senior technical person has ever had any teeth in ntl, the company I worked in before ntl and my present company are very engineering focused. A Chief Engineer is a very powerfull person in most technical focused companies, who is consulted on any technical changes.

In ntl however the tail wags the dog.

[injuneer]

Originally Posted by Escapee

Chief Technical officer?

No senior technical person has ever had any teeth in ntl, the company I worked in before ntl and my present company are very engineering focused. A Chief Engineer is a very powerfull person in most technical focused companies, who is consulted on any technical changes.

In ntl however the tail wags the dog.

Wasn't Peter Black their chief technical man once? I think he came from Broadcast originally but he got pushed out a couple of years back because he didn't agree with the board about the way things were going. He could see the brown stuff approaching the fan!

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by injuneer

Wasn't Peter Black their chief technical man once? I think he came from Broadcast originally but he got pushed out a couple of years back because he didn't agree with the board about the way things were going. He could see the brown stuff approaching the fan!

Thats going back a fair while, Peter Black was Director of Networks? (I think)
I think he upset a lot of people, I wasn't keen on some of his ideas and I think someone like Peter Black coming into the company from Broadcast, found that no matter how much power he had there were others ganging up to stab him in the back.

I think Alfredo De la Rocco was a director at some point, I heard there was a senior director asked to leave over some money discrepencies and back handers, he dissapeared around that time. I was told about how many millions he placed in orders and maintenance contracts that were never honoured. I lost my job that I went to after ntl cos of that.

My old department was taken over by Trevor Gent, he was a director without a job, so they gave him engineering to look after. I put my notice in and my boss decided to get Gent down to have a chat with us and perhaps I would change my mind. The other guys thought he was a great and would do good things for the department, I said he was an ar**hole! A few months after I left they were saying the same about him, he had just used the position as caretaker until something else cam along, and made lots of false promises.

There have been many in senior engineering positions, and in fact there still are like that. I can think of a few and wonder how the h**l they ever got there.

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by th'engineer

I think thats a very good point, taking into account the considerable skills that telewest have in networks. Iit will be very good for NTL getting the people with the network skills they require from excellence of Telewest

It's not a question of skills it's a question of resources. We have some excellent engineers, not much point though when they are being asked to look after massive areas and do their job with no budget.

The only reason that ntl have any bad network is lack of resources, the skill and talent has always been there to get the job done.

Lack of actual engineers in senior positions isn't a good indicator, looking at Rogers, Comcast, etc, these people have CTO's who are VERY technical indeed.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Ignition

It's not a question of skills it's a question of resources. We have some excellent engineers, not much point though when they are being asked to look after massive areas and do their job with no budget.

The only reason that ntl have any bad network is lack of resources, the skill and talent has always been there to get the job done.

Lack of actual engineers in senior positions isn't a good indicator, looking at Rogers, Comcast, etc, these people have CTO's who are VERY technical indeed.

I agree with that as well. (something wrong here, me agreeing again)

There are some very good technical people at the service tech and network technician level still in ntl, some of the best ones they had left the company of their own accord and others have taken voluntary redundancy in some cases. If there is one problem with the current service/network techs, it's their morale and motivation, they cannot be blamed however for their attitude caused by being constantly s**t on from a great height.

When you move up from the network techs and headend/switch techs, onto the regional guys is where many of the problems lay. Sure there are some very talented people in those jobs, but there is also a lot of bad people who are in those positions through years service with the company and not gaining the positions by technical merit. The bad guys all seem to know one another and protect one another, we used to laugh at some of the corporate engineers, their inexperience and the c**k-ups they used to make. I still find it very funny when I ask some of my old ntl mates about "fred bloggs" etc, and they say he's still with the company!

Some of these senior corporate guys just wouldn't be able to go out into the jobs market and get a job on merit, because they would be found out within minutes if interviewed by a real technical person.

PS: I sat in an interview before christmas with an ex-ntl guy, his CV claimed he was a genuis. I didn't let on that I had worked for ntl, and he was coming out with the biggest load of bull I had ever heard. My manager said after the interview "He seemed to know his stuff about the HFC and Telco networks"

[slowcoach]

Originally Posted by BBKing

Resegs not happening? Doubt it, I found a whole bunch of new UBRs out on the network this morning - if that isn't investing in capacity for the new speeds I'm a Dutchman. Which I'm not.

Your post may have got more response if you had found that a whole bunch of UBRs had been removed from the network when you came in this morning, good news doesn't seem to appeal to too many people using the forum.
I hear the "Asteroid Heading for Earth" Board is very popular.

[injuneer]

[/QUOTE] I think Alfredo De la Rocco was a director at some point, I heard there was a senior director asked to leave over some money discrepencies and back handers, he dissapeared around that time. I was told about how many millions he placed in orders and maintenance contracts that were never honoured. I lost my job that I went to after ntl cos of that.

My old department was taken over by Trevor Gent, he was a director without a job, so they gave him engineering to look after. I put my notice in and my boss decided to get Gent down to have a chat with us and perhaps I would change my mind. The other guys thought he was a great and would do good things for the department, I said he was an ar**hole! A few months after I left they were saying the same about him, he had just used the position as caretaker until something else cam along, and made lots of false promises.

There have been many in senior engineering positions, and in fact there still are like that. I can think of a few and wonder how the h**l they ever got there. [/QUOTE]

I think I met Trevor Gent once, did he use to work for United Artists before it became Telewest? I used to work for Mercury Comms and I'm sure I met him at meeting in Woking in about 1992/3 to discuss the cutover of their new Croydon switch from the Mercury Network. I wasn't impressed.
I've seen both of the De la Rocco brothers, Tom & Alfredo (although you wouldn't think they were brothers if you saw them. They were part of Barclay Knapps original entourage. I was working in Cabletel at that time.

[Escapee]

I think Alfredo De la Rocco was a director at some point, I heard there was a senior director asked to leave over some money discrepencies and back handers, he dissapeared around that time. I was told about how many millions he placed in orders and maintenance contracts that were never honoured. I lost my job that I went to after ntl cos of that.

My old department was taken over by Trevor Gent, he was a director without a job, so they gave him engineering to look after. I put my notice in and my boss decided to get Gent down to have a chat with us and perhaps I would change my mind. The other guys thought he was a great and would do good things for the department, I said he was an ar**hole! A few months after I left they were saying the same about him, he had just used the position as caretaker until something else cam along, and made lots of false promises.

There have been many in senior engineering positions, and in fact there still are like that. I can think of a few and wonder how the h**l they ever got there. [/QUOTE]

I think I met Trevor Gent once, did he use to work for United Artists before it became Telewest? I used to work for Mercury Comms and I'm sure I met him at meeting in Woking in about 1992/3 to discuss the cutover of their new Croydon switch from the Mercury Network. I wasn't impressed.
I've seen both of the De la Rocco brothers, Tom & Alfredo (although you wouldn't think they were brothers if you saw them. They were part of Barclay Knapps original entourage. I was working in Cabletel at that time.[/QUOTE]

I think Treveor Gent may of been with Telewest, certainly with a company in the London/South of England area. I know he had been around the cable industry for a while, he was looking after ntl's interests in Europe and came back to the UK around the time of the planning for growth. There was no position for him so they gave him our department to look after, he was full of promises but easily seen through as far as I was concerned.

I never met Tom, but I understand he was the powerfull one and Alfredo just rode on his back. I met Alfredo a few times and certainly wouldn't trust him, we had a meeting on one occassion when he decided that he was going to try and force the network techs to work shifts. I was a network tech back in those days and they had been to a big conference in Spain, some manager put forward plans to get the network engineers working shifts, as it would save the company a lot of money in overtime!

The guy who put this proposal forward didn't consider the extra network techs he would need to take on, or there would be no-one about to fix faults in the daytime that just about sums up ntl management!

I remember as usual all the techs were up in arms about the plans, but when it came to the meeting one or two were kissing his backside, the majority sat there quiet as mice, and it just left me and another guy to tear him to shreds.

[injuneer]

Originally Posted by Escapee

I never met Tom, but I understand he was the powerfull one and Alfredo just rode on his back. I met Alfredo a few times and certainly wouldn't trust him, we had a meeting on one occassion when he decided that he was going to try and force the network techs to work shifts. I was a network tech back in those days and they had been to a big conference in Spain, some manager put forward plans to get the network engineers working shifts, as it would save the company a lot of money in overtime!

The guy who put this proposal forward didn't consider the extra network techs he would need to take on, or there would be no-one about to fix faults in the daytime that just about sums up ntl management!

I remember as usual all the techs were up in arms about the plans, but when it came to the meeting one or two were kissing his backside, the majority sat there quiet as mice, and it just left me and another guy to tear him to shreds.

The story goes that Tom de la Rocco was a Vietnam Vet and he used to go into trances if he heard a helicoptor !!

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by injuneer

The story goes that Tom de la Rocco was a Vietnam Vet and he used to go into trances if he heard a helicoptor !!

Alfredo always gave me the impression he was on drugs.

I heard he's CEO of a company in the Caribbean now, who says failure is never rewarded.

[injuneer]

Originally Posted by Escapee

Alfredo always gave me the impression he was on drugs.

I heard he's CEO of a company in the Caribbean now, who says failure is never rewarded.

All these people were part of Barclays clique, they all came across from the states together. There was also a woman among them whose name eludes me, she used to flirt a lot at the Christmas parties, wasn't very interested in listening to the companies operational problems (Cabletel), just as long as the money rolled in. No change there then

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by injuneer

All these people were part of Barclays clique, they all came across from the states together. There was also a woman among them whose name eludes me, she used to flirt a lot at the Christmas parties, wasn't very interested in listening to the companies operational problems (Cabletel), just as long as the money rolled in. No change there then

That could of been Leigh Wood, she had her head up her own a**e.

I went into a meeting with her because I was not part of operations, the operational people were not invited because a couple of techs had handed her their notice and told her where to stick her job previously.

She was really enjoying herself saying what a good job her and Barclay and Terry Ryan were doing, she was giving herself a good old ntl pat on the back.
I brought up the subject about a lot of good network techs and other technical people leaving at the time, I mentioned how the company was unable to recruit suitable replacements and they were having to pay more for replacements than some of the better existing guys. She claimed the new ones were better experienced and qualified thats why they were getting more money.

She then went on to say if people dont like it they can leave, she said to me "there are better people out there than you" I said "That goes for all of us" she then went red in the face and abruptly closed the meeting. That was the typical ntl manager, OK patting themself on the back but not wanting to listen to any problems.

I got into trouble because I went back and told all the technicians what she said, the network ops manager said I shouldn't of said it, I explained that I was only repeating what the UK CEO said about ntl's employees and how she made clear how much she valued them. I was always looking forward to another opportunity, because I vowed to have the bitch in tears at my next opportunity.

She left soon after to take 12 months off work to organise her private life, I thought after that meeting that she didn't really have the skills required for that job and she had obviously used some other skills to get the position.