In another sign that Nokia and Siemens are confident that the merger of their network equipment divisions will go through, the companies announced they will start sharing their proposed product portfolio in early February.The release of the product portfolio will help customers by providing them with clarity about the company’s future portfolio plans, the companies said. The merger, announced last June, combines the network businesses of both vendors, including their fixed and mobile equipment groups. The combined company would offer fixed-mobile convergence products, a global base of customers and a large service organization, they said at the time. The release of a planned product portfolio may indicate that the companies believe the merger will close soon, following the completion of a recently announced compliance review. In December, the companies said the merger would not close by the end of 2006, as expected, because they had decided to execute a compliance review spurred by a corruption investigation at Siemens. Nokia’s chief executive last week expressed his confidence in the merger and an impending close of the deal. “I’m more convinced of the business logic now than I was in the summer last year,” said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s chief executive officer. “We estimate to close the transaction as we earlier communicated during the course of this quarter.”The release of the product portfolio will also help the companies determine which workers are likely to be laid off, they said. The companies expect to reduce the headcount at the new company by 6,000 to 7,500 people. Antitrust organizations in the United States and European Union have already approved the merger, and executive leaders for the new company have been appointed.-Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service (Dublin Bureau)Related Link: Nokia Sales Up, Market Share SteadyCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content brandpost Democratizing HPC with multicloud to accelerate engineering innovations Cloud for HPC is facilitating broader access to high performance computing and accelerating innovations and opportunities for all types of organizations. By Tanya O'Hara Jun 01, 2023 6 mins Multi Cloud brandpost Survey: Marketers embrace AI at expense of metaverse investments Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) has quickly rocked the world of marketing. Sitecore polled B2B marketers on their perceptions of GAI. Here’s what they said. By Dave O’Flanagan, Sitecore Jun 01, 2023 4 mins Artificial Intelligence news Zendesk to lay off another 8% of its staff, cites macroeconomic issues The new tranche of layoffs comes just six months after the company let go of 300 staffers and hired a new CEO in order to navigate its operations through macroeconomic distress. By Anirban Ghoshal Jun 01, 2023 3 mins CRM Systems IT Jobs feature 5 CxOs on leading change To be the agents of change that businesses require today, IT leaders must embrace a flexible mindset, prep their orgs for change, and recognize that intention and purpose are vital to empowering transformation. By Dan Roberts Jun 01, 2023 13 mins Digital Transformation Change Management IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe