
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 1, 1995                   TAG: 9502010067
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ALCATEL RESEARCHERS BEING MOVED TO N.C.

Alcatel N.A. Cable Systems Inc., which operates an optical fiber plant in Roanoke County, is moving a group of researchers based in Roanoke to Claremont, N.C., and consolidating them with the company's fiber development group there.

Wayne Cole, head of the fiber development group in North Carolina, said most of the 19 scientists, engineers and technicians who have been reassigned to North Carolina will have completed the move by the end of February.

In all, 25 people worked in Alcatel's research operation in Roanoke. Two of those people have already moved, and four will be laid off, Cole said. The consolidation has been in the works for about a year, he said.

The researchers are being moved to Claremont because all of the company's new research technology is located there, Cole said. Alcatel N.A. Cable Systems is headquartered in nearby Hickory, N.C.

Cole said he doesn't expect the move to have any impact on the company's optical fiber plant in Roanoke.

Alcatel N.A. Cable Systems is a subsidiary of Alcatel Alsthom, a French company.

Memo: ***CORRECTION***

by CNB