In a podcast conversation with Joel Hackney, President of Enterprise Solutions Business at Nortel I had a chance to discuss Nortel’s earnings which were a mixed bag for the quarter. On the one hand there were eight quarters of year over year profit increases and revenue and gross margins increased compared to the same quarter (Q2) last year.

On the down side there was a wider net loss of $113 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $37 million, or seven cents a share, a year earlier.

Hackney did explain that the economic environment has been challenging, citing a “tough economy” and he mentioned work needs to be done to improve operational effectiveness and margins in the business.

Hackney went on to say, “Not only are we looking to become more effective and efficient, internally within Nortel from a cost perspective, we’re taking our solutions externally and helping our customers do the same thing.”

Other important takeaways were thoughts on the LG-Nortel JV, the Siemens acquisition by the Gores Group and what the rest of the years’ earnings will look like.

Here is the podcast  for more.