The speculation is over: Alcatel and Lucent have officially merged (unofficially Alcatel is buying Lucent given its shareholders will have 60% of the new entity) to create a $25-billion wireline, wireless and services behemoth. It is interesting that Alcatel is purchasing Lucent at a discount to Friday's closing price. Patricia Russo will become CEO while Serge Tchuruk will be non-executive chairman. AlcaCent also plans to eliminate 8,800 jobs, or 10% of the workforce, to reduce annual costs by $1.7-billion. So can we now launch the consolidation frenzy within the $336-billion equipment industry? How long before Siemens or Nokia pursue Nortel, or Huawei takes a run at Juniper or as Om Malik suggests will Juniper take a run at Huawei? For several years, the telecom equipment market has been waiting - desperately needing? - consoliation among the large players amid fierce competition, soft margins and a dwindling customer base. Perhaps fewer players is what's needed to restore some sense of fiscal health. That said, there is some healthy skepticism emerging. RBC World Markets' analyst Mark Sue said Lucent and Alcatel have distinctly different corporate cultures and any expected synergies will likely not emerge for a year. IP Democracy also has concerns about the French ownership of Lucent's Bell Labs operation, which does work for the U.S. government and security agencies.