Open Source: Avaya frets, Duke regrets
Hey all. I’m Brian Gordon, tech writer for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source.
Avaya remains a company for now, but the future of the Durham telecommunication firm is hazy as the bad news keeps piling up.
The past 12 months has brought missed earning targets, a delayed public filing, layoffs, a CEO replacement, and a collapsed loan deal. Then in mid-December, Avaya informed regulators it is considering Chapter 11 bankruptcy as an avenue to address debt obligations.
Lastly, the company revealed last week it was notified by the New York Stock Exchange that its stock price was too low. Avaya’s share price now stands at 19 cents, a precipitous fall from its record high of over $30 only a few years ago. It will now have six months to raise the price or face getting kicked off the world’s largest stock exchange.
Avaya employees have said the company has struggled in its move toward a subscription-model for its cloud-based services. The company says it will work to raise its anemic stock price. But according to one analyst, it has at most two fiscal quarters to turn its fortunes around.
Duke’s details on the blackouts
The rolling blackouts Duke Energy implemented on Christmas Eve were unprecedented. They impacted 500,000 customers, and the utility acknowledged it never before had to resort to that type of mass outages.
So, what was the cause?
On Tuesday, Duke gave answers at the N.C. Utilities Commission in Raleigh. Its predictive model miscalculated the frigid temperature and the demand customers would place on the system on the Saturday morning. Plus, a handful of coal and natural gas plants around the state were reduced by winter weather.
The situation grew dire — Duke Energy reached the highest emergency level on the North American Electric Reliability Corporation standards.
After the outages began, a software issue forced Duke to have to restore many customers’ power manually. Duke officials apologized, but many residents are still frustrated by what transpired. .
Short Stuff: Spruill spills, NC notches another business accolade
Bill Spruill, local investor/entrepreneur, speaks with the N&O about what the Triangle startup ecosystem does right — and what it gets wrong.
Shocker! North Carolina lands atop another “best state for business” list.
Durham’s Wolfspeed will soon see its silicon carbide chips in Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
Later today, economic leaders and prognosticators will speak at the 21st annual Economic Forecast Forum in Durham hosted by the NC Chamber and North Carolina Bankers Association. Don’t be a stranger if you’re attending!
National tech happenings
Amazon expands its layoffs to 18,000 workers, a higher totally than the company first announced late last year. Most of the positions appear to be white-collar roles, which means warehouse workers at the Amazon plant in Garner should not be directly affected. “We don’t believe that the broader Amazon layoffs will impact local Amazon associates,” said Rev. Ryan Brown, who is leading an effort to unionize the Garner facility.
New York City schools ban the popular ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool on student devices to minimize cheating. In related news, the company that created ChatGPT might see a $29 billion valuation.
Some of Twitter’s headaches predate Elon Musk. The European Union is probing a data leak at the social media company that impacted more than five million accounts last year.
Thanks for reading!
This newsletter was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
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