Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Fresh squeezed networks?

Lattelekom has announced the name of its network installation and maintenance subsidiary. It will be Citrus Solutions. What's in a name? There is some IT company named Citrus something already, but the first thought that pops into mind is something to do with oranges and lemons. But why think when you can Google? One of the higher up hits(for a carpet cleaning company) says" We Use Two Patented Citrus Solutions. For Pet Urine Odor". Just goes to show that a good international company name is very hard to find and, inevitably, it means something strange in another language. Take the Finnish word for tasty - maukas- which means whores in Latvian, hence no Latvian with a sense of humor and a little time on their hands will fail to look for a big package of Maukas (flat bread, as a matter of fact) when visiting Helsinki.
However, the name may not be the biggest problem. What Citrus Solutions intends to sell is network building and maintenance services, most likely to the Swedish and other Scandinavian markets. If Citrus tries to compete on price, it is likely to face a Laval & Partners-
style (a Latvian construction company that was run out of the market by the unions) boycott by Swedish unions or sign a 100 + page labor contract for each short term employee sent to string fiber or install routers, say, for Sydkraft (the power company has been mentioned as a potential client).
More likely, the easiest service to offer will be network monitoring and maintenance using Swedish partners when something breaks down. Monitoring employees can sit in Latvia and see how the network is humming by remote means. However, with a staff of 600, it is likely Citrus Solutions will be doing some work on the ground for its international clients, although initially, its main task will be maintaining Lattelekom's own network.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't they have a history of forming subsidiaries who later get dismissed due to some internal restructuring? Whatever happend to VERDI back in the day? Don't get me wrong, there is a reason I formed the sentence as a question instead of a statement. I might be severly incompetent due to lack of information :)