The major global equipment makers have suffered multiple blows in recent years, and no company has been more beat-up than Nortel. Granted, much of what happened at this company has been self-inflicted, but even those scandalized by the repeated financial blunders have to hold out some hope for an enterprise as large and as storied as the firm that first brought digital switching to the U.S. market.

I found that hope in a conversation with Andrew Lippman, a senior research scientist at MIT, who was also founding associate director of the MIT Media Lab and is now the first Visiting Fellow for Nortel's Technical Fellowship. When I asked Lippman what drew him to take the Nortel position, he told me he was impressed by the approach the current management is taking, specifically their view of research.

"I've been at MIT for almost 40 years now, starting as a graduate student," Lippman said. "It's a bit like going to the hospital as a patient and coming out as a doctor." Throughout that time, Nortel has been "a steadfast sponsor," dating back to the days when the company was Bell Northern Research.

More important than the history, however, is the present, which included a visit from Nortel President and CEO Mike Zafirovski and CTO John Roese, conducting "the first convocation of their researchers that they had ever done," he said.

"They were very straightforward and up front about what Nortel is about," he said. "It is a large company -- not the largest. But the industry it operates in is changing. It has to face what the industry is changing into and the fact that the means by which the industry is changing is through research."

Lippman believes this is a "refreshing and uncommon" attitude.

"They really understand the way forward is through research and innovation, not doing things better," he said. "Most companies, when things go bad, the first thing they do is shoot the researcher. We look like overhead. Of course, that only digs the hole deeper. The Nortel leadership knows they need this. This is what is going to get us around the next corner. Considering they have been with the company less than two years, there is good reason to think this will be an interesting new start."

Stay tuned for more of what Andy Lippman has to say -- I think you'll be interested.

Editor's Note: Now that IPTV is real-world, learn how service providers are meeting the challenges of scalability, security and service differentiation at Telephony's IPTV Workshop, Oct. 29, in Boston, just before the VON trade show. Find more information and registration materials at telephonyonline.com/iptvworkshop/.

Email me at cwilson3@telephonyonline.com.