But how did we get here in the first place?

About 1,000 of those positions will be shifted to lower-cost operations in Mexico, China and India. Because Nortel is still hiring in sales and marketing, the total number of layoffs may be higher than the company’s estimate for the net result, a spokesman, Jay Barta, said. (...)

The announcement is the latest in a series of staff cuts dating back to 2001. At the end of last year, Nortel, based in Toronto, had about 34,000 employees, compared with 94,500 six years ago. (NYT)