The Nokia-Siemens Train Wreck

It doesn't bode so then for Nokia-Siemens Networks achieving a successful IPO that there were some 500 jobs being advertised on the day it announced it was sacking a quarter of its workforce.

Ominously for NSN employees, in September Nokia and Siemens appointed a chairman for NSN who was earlier the CFO of a network. CFOs typically cut, not build.

NSN is expected to exit its Wimax and carrier Ethernet businesses, drop its fixed-line VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and broadband access businesses, and get out of its business support and entertainment products.

CEO Rajeev Suri says that NSN will focus on wireless broadband. In July 2010 it paid $1.2 billion for Motorola's wireless network equipment unit. "Our goal is to provide the world's most efficient mobile networks," says Suri.