A look back at the rise and demise of one of Canada's former tech darlings
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Women work inside a Northern Electric Co. Ltd. factory in Montreal in this undated National Archive photo during the Frist World War. 1895-1959
1895: Bell Telephone Co. of Canada incorporates its autonomous manufacturing division, Northern Electric and Manufacturing Co.
1914: Northern Electric merges with Imperial Wire and Cable Co. to create Northern Electric Co. Ltd. Bell Canada owns 50%, and U.S.-based Western Electric owns 44%.
1922: Northern Electric produces Canada's first vacuum tube, in February, and within three months its first radio receiver.
1928: The company produces and installs the first moving-picture sound system in Canada in Montreal's Palace Theatre.
1939: Factories are dedicated to the war effort, building aviation and tank radios, and fuses for anti-aircraft guns.
1946: Returning to consumer electronic products, Northern Electric introduces the Baby Champ table radio and sells 136,000 for $25 each.
1950s: AT&T's Western Electric terminates its relationship with Northern and sells its holdings to Bell Canada following a consent decree by the U.S. Justice Department.
Chris Taylor -
A man operates a Northern Telecom Displayphone in this undated handout photo. c. early 1980s. 1960-1999
1961: Northern establishes its independent research and development division, Northern Electric Research Laboratories, in Ottawa.
1971: The laboratories are renamed Bell Northern Research and are jointly owned by Bell Canada and Northern.
1975: The company plans a bold strategy to manufacture a new generation of fully digital telephone switches.
1976: A groundbreaking line of digital telecommunications switches is unveiled at Disney World. To reflect the new vision, the company name is changed to Northern Telecom.
1983: BCE Inc. is created; the conglomerate assumes ownership of Bell Canada's stake in Northern Telecom.
1988: Northern Telecom's digital gamble transforms it into a telecommunications giant with $5 billion in sales, up from $1.7 billion at the beginning of the decade.
1998: CEO John Roth's audacious “right-angle” turn from telecommunications to the Internet market leads to the $9.1-billion purchase of Bay Networks, a California-based leader in data networking equipment.
1999: Northern Telecom becomes Nortel Networks Corp.
Chris Taylor -
Nortel Networks' iconic research and development headquarters has been sold to the federal government in a $208-million deal, Oct. 19, 2010. The Nortel campus is on 370-acres, with 11 buildings and 2-million square feet of space. DAVE CHAN 2000-present
2000: The CEO of BCE, Jean Monty, distributes 94% of its Nortel Networks stake to shareholders, making Nortel Networks a totally independent company. Share price hits a high of $124.50 on July 26.
2001: A slowing U.S. economy and disappointing results send shares plunging to under $8. Roth announces a series of job cuts that total almost 50,000 by year's end.
2003: Accounting scandals swirl around the company (which had reported a return to profitability)as it announces a “comprehensive review” of assets and liabilities.
2004: CEO Frank Dunn, CFO Douglas Beatty and controller Michael Gollogly are fired on April 28 in the midst of the company’s accounting scandal.
2006: The company’s last big technology bet is on a wireless revolution, to build the network equipment that would soon make mobile communications faster and more reliable.
2006: Nortel acknowledges restated revenues were part of management fraud.
2008: RCMP arrest Mr. Dunn, Mr. Beatty and Mr. Gollogly in June, charging each with seven counts of fraud.
2009: Nortel files for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 14. In June, the company announces its liquidation, and by the end of the year its wireless assets, Enterprise unit, Metro Ethernet Networks unit, its GSM business and some software and technology have been picked up by various other companies for billions.
2010: In February, Nortel begins thinking about selling its patents.
2011: In July, a consortium buys Nortel’s patents for $4.5-billion at auction.
2012: The Crown drops four of the original seven charges against Mr. Dunn, Mr. Beatty and Mr. Gollogly. Their trial begins Jan. 16.
2013: Ontario Superior Court Justice Frank Marrocco finds Mr. Dunn, Mr. Beatty and Mr. Gollogly not guilty of fraud on Jan. 14 after a lengthy trial.
Chris Taylor, David Ebner and Iain Marlow
