NORTEL NETWORKS laid out a global site plan this week that determines what type of work will be done where by its 12,000 research and development staff.

Ireland will remain an R&D centre under the plan, unveiled to employees of North America's largest telecoms equipment maker, but the most substantial change will be in China.

Operations there will expand to include work on all four business units from its current market development focus, said David Hudson, Nortel's vice-president of portfolio management.

Ottawa, with its 5,000 engineers, will remain R&D headquarters and is the other "full service site" for Nortel's carrier, business, network equipment, and software and services units.

Toronto-based Nortel will not cut jobs under the plan, which it first hinted at last week, and may need to retrain or relocate workers, but said it has not yet made those decisions.

The company has identified nine centres - focusing on two or three core skills - in the United States, Ireland, England, Turkey, India and Korea. Four other "specialty sites" with a more narrow focus are in Canada, the United States and France.

"We're not trying to be all things to all people," Mr Hudson said. "That kind of focus, around a core set of technology assets, I think is important. It says we're . . . going to matter for a few really important things and we'll work with partners for the rest."

Smaller offices not included in the plan may see jobs move to designated centres, Nortel said, though it will take years to complete that work.