Nortel Buzzboard

Nortel CVAS Stalking Horse News

Jamie Moody — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:32:45 GMT

In case you missed the news right before the holidays, Nortel announced that it has entered into a "stalking horse" asset sale agreement with GENBAND for the sale of Nortel's CVAS business. See the complete press release here

GENBAND is a worldwide supplier of next-generation IP gateways, session border controllers and fixed mobile convergence (FMC) security solutions. The proposed transaction with GENBAND provides for the transition of substantially all of Nortel's CVAS customer contracts. GENBAND will acquire substantially all of Nortel's CVAS assets, including softswitching, gateways and SIP applications and all patents and IP that are predominantly used in the CVAS business. GENBAND has teamed with one of its existing shareholders, One Equity Partners III, L.P. (OEP), to assist in financing the proposed purchase of Nortel's CVAS assets. OEP manages investments and commitments for JP Morgan Chase & Co. in private equity transactions.

For more information on GENBAND, check out their website at www.genband.com and see an "open letter" to Nortel CVAS employees from Charles Vogt, GENBAND President and CEO here

Stay tuned for more information about the CVAS auction date and next steps. You can also visit Nortel's Restructure Website here

Avaya closes on purchase of Nortel Enterprize Biz

Jay Barta — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:12:49 GMT

Well, it's official - Nortel has completed the divestiture of its second major business unit. Avaya announced Friday that it has successfully completed its acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions (NES). The move will boost Avaya's competitiveness globally by expanding its partner ecosystem and creating a broader product portfolio. And, approximately 6,000 Nortel employees are making the jump over to Avaya (myself included - so, regrettably, this will be my last BuzzBoard post).

For more scoop on closing the books on this deal - as well as next steps in integrating the Avaya/Nortel business - check out Matt's post on Enterprise Technology here.

Lightower evolves from 10G to 40G to 100G

Bo Gowan — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:32:06 GMT

On Monday Nortel officially announced the commercial availability of our 100G solution. However, our optical team has been working to get that 100G product to market for years, and that includes trials with service providers around the world.

Yesterday, we added a name to that list of successful trials with the announcement that Lightower had completed a successful trial of our 100G solution in their network.

Lightower is an existing Nortel optical customer, and their path to evolve and upgrade their network provides a unique view to one of the key benefits of Nortel's 100G solution.

Lightower is a fiber network and bandwidth provider in the U.S. Northeast, with over 4,400 fiber route miles that extend from Boston and southern New Hampshire, to eastern New York State, northern New Jersey, Long Island, and New York City.

Earlier this year, Lightower upgraded its optical infrastructure to 40G speeds using Nortel's 40G solution, becoming the first in the region to offer a 40G bandwidth service. At the time of that deployment, their Senior VP, Jason Campbell, highlighted the "plug and play" nature of installing Nortel's 40G.

Today, Lightower now has over 1,250 route miles of it's network at 40G speeds, but the continued demand for bandwidth has them planning for 100G.

For the 100G trial they just completed, Lightower sent production network traffic error-free for four days over a 100G link spanning 600 kilometers from New York to Boston. Once again, the process of upgrading was painless and simple, with "scaling from 40G to 100G as simple as adding a card" to their existing Nortel OME 6500 platforms.

This simplicity to deploy is a key consideration for service providers. By adding in a few 100G cards, providers can deploy 100G wavelengths over their existing infrastructure with no network engineering, and even without disturbing any existing 10G and 40G wavelengths already in place.

Below are a few pictures from the trial. In the pictures you'll see Dave Pho, Director of Engineering at Lightower, and Michal Samborski, System Engineer at Nortel (in the grey Nortel shirt).

Nortel 100G brings back some of that rational exuberance

Bo Gowan — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:01:46 GMT

Back in March 2008, I wrote one of my first posts on this Buzzboard blog called How about a little "rational exuberance". On that day, Nortel had just unveiled our new 40G Optical solution to the world, and my post suggested that maybe it was time to get excited again about Nortel's optical business. Of course, many things have changed since that time and I think we can all agree that from a Nortel corporate level there hasn't been a lot to be "exuberant" about over the last year.

But one thing that hasn't changed during that time is Nortel's grip on leading edge optical technology that allows us to do things with optical networks that no other vendor can do. That was reinforced once again this week when we loudly announced that Nortel was the world's first to have a commercially available 100G solution for the market.

We weren't the only ones shouting from the rooftops on the news though, Verizon was standing there beside us, as they announced being the first service provider in the world to deploy 100G on a live in-service customer network (using our solution of course).

Now that's quite a one-two punch -- not only first to market with 100G, but already with one of the world's largest service providers using it for their customer network.

Just a quick note on Verizon's deployment. They added a 100G wavelength on their Paris to Frankfurt route spanning 893km by simply adding 100G cards to the Nortel OME 6500s in their network. That new 100G link is running alongside 30+ existing 10G wavelengths, showing the ability of Nortel's solution to elegantly scale from 10G to 40G to 100G with no disruption to the existing network.

When Nortel first introduced our 40G solution, one of its unique technologies was the ability to send 40G of traffic at 10G speeds. Called "Dual Polarization Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (DP QPSK) modulation with coherent detection," Nortel was the only vendor to implement it. Back then, this was a new and controversial technology. Fast forward to this week, and Nortel is still the only vendor in the industry to commercially deploy DP QPSK, a coherent receiver, or advanced electronic digital signal processing (DSP) -- all technologies that play a huge part in our 100G solution as well.

In fact, the development and success of our 40G solution, which has now been deployed in the live customer networks of 50+ service providers globally, is a key reason we were able to get the head start we have in 100G. How much of a head start is hard to say exactly, but our guys and some analysts say it's as much as 18 months.

While Nortel's leadership with these optical technologies hasn't changed, what has changed is the industry's perception of them. Service providers are now moving to develop these same technologies for their 100G implementations. The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) now proposes 100G implementations using DP QPSK modulation with coherent detection and advanced DSP.

In other words, the industry is converging on its view of how to implement 100G and we just got there first.

Nortel CVAS Gets Some Recognition

Jamie Moody — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:49:04 GMT

In case you missed the news earlier this week, three top industry analyst firms: Dell'Oro Group, Infonetics Research, and Synergy Research recently published reports that rank Nortel as the global leader in carrier VoIP, with the largest revenues in the carrier IP market for third quarter 2009. For complete details, see the press release here

Nortel has held the carrier VoIP leadership spot for the past 8 years.

In addition, Nortel also received Telecom Asia's Readers' Choice award and was named Asia's VoIP Vendor of the Year. See press release here

heres a picture from the Telecom Asia award ceremony of Nortel's Ian Stamp (right), Director, Taiwan and Asean, Nortel, receiving the VoIP Vendor of the Year award from Jonathan Bigelow (left), Managing Director, Questex Asia Limited.

For more information on these awards, click here

Avaya deal clears last major regulatory hurdle

Jay Barta — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:01:23 GMT

Big news today out of Canada on the Avaya-Nortel Enterprise deal... Avaya announced the Canadian Minister of Industry has approved its acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions under the Investment Canada Act.

The Honourable Tony Clement, Canada's Minister of Industry, commented "I have approved the application by Avaya to acquire Nortel's Enterprise Solutions business because I am satisfied that the investment is likely to be of net benefit to Canada."

This was the last major regulatory approval needed for the deal, and puts us one big 'ol step closer to closing later this month. In the meantime, if you're looking for more info on the future of Nortel's enterprise solutions, you can check out our product microsite here.

Some Non-Divestiture News From CVAS...

Jamie Moody — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:03:30 GMT

There has been quite a bit of activity from the corporate divestiture front at Nortel in the past few weeks, so just in case you missed it, I thought I would briefly summarize some of our recent announcements from Nortel CVAS.

Last week we announceda new agreement with Bell Aliant, to support their next-generation network across Atlantic Canada.

As part of the new agreement, Sigma Systems will supply OSS fulfillment solutions, including its Service Management Platform and Device Provisioning Manager, which enables service providers to easily auto-configure and provision business and residential end-user SIP devices and VoIP phone lines for its subscribers.

Nortel currently provides an IP Powered Business solution to Bell Aliant. This includes our CS 2000, and Agile Communication Environment solutions.

We also announced a CS 1500 deployment with CASSCOM, a regional carrier that offers cable, internet and telephone services throughout Central IL.

A couple of the services that CASSCOMM will introduce are:

"Notify Plus" which allows subscribers to turn their landline phone into a powerful automated messaging service. Subscribers can schedule automated call outs to deliver recorded messages for things like: Non-Pay Reminders, Meeting Reminders, Weather Cancellations, Service Changes and Outages.
"Phone Central" system that lets CASSCOMM access and update a number of end user services, including: selective call forwarding, simultaneous and distinctive ringing, selective call rejection and acceptance and group speed dialing. Subscribers can also manage their calls from their PCs.

Ciena wins Nortel Optical and Carrier Ethernet biz auction

Bo Gowan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:25:19 GMT

After a three day long auction that started Friday morning and didn't end until late Sunday night, Ciena has been named the winning bidder for Nortel's Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet businesses (with NSN being the second bidder). Ciena's final bid came in at US$530 million in cash plus US$239 in convertible notes.

By winning the auction, Ciena consummates many of the deal parameters that were part of it's original stalking horse bid announced back on October 7th. Specifically, the agreement provides for the transfer of substantially all customers, product platforms, and a minimum of 2,000 employees* (representing more than 85% of the employee base).

Regarding the parameters of the deal, Philippe Morin's statement in this morning's press release said it best: "Ciena's commitment to the future of our product platforms, customers and employees represents an exceptionally positive outcome to a challenging journey that started over a year ago. Our employees have always been the core value of our business, and their ability to continue to innovate as part of a global industry leader is one of the most satisfying results of today's news."

Ciena issued their own press release on the agreement, in which their CEO Gary Smith talked about the benefits of bringing together these two leaders in the optical market: "These optical and carrier Ethernet assets bring exceptional technologies, talent and scale that will accelerate Ciena's current strategy to deliver innovative network solutions to customers worldwide. With this combination, we are bringing together complementary technologies in switching and transport to create an innovative powerhouse with the scale to challenge the industry status quo and offer customers a practical path for transitioning to automated, optical Ethernet-based networking."

The next step comes next week on December 2nd when a motion to approve Ciena as the acquirer will be heard by bankruptcy courts in the U.S. and Canada. Both Nortel and Ciena stated their intent to close the transaction by the first quarter of 2010.

*This includes those employees assigned to the Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet businesses in certain EMEA jurisdictions who would transfer automatically to Ciena by operation of law.

Nortel Reports Financial Results for Q3, 2009

Jay Barta — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:09:15 GMT

For those of you tracking Nortel financials, we issued third quarter 09 earnings earlier today - see the news release here. Also of note, as announced last week, Nortel is no longer providing combined financial statements for its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) subsidiaries currently under creditor protection. Instead, we are now presenting these entities using the equity method of accounting.

Update on auction for sale of Nortel Optical and Carrier Ethernet Businesses

Bo Gowan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:19:10 GMT

For those of you looking for an update on the sale of Nortel's Optical and Carrier Ethernet businesses, the below press release just crossed the wires. You can see the full release here.

============

Nortel Provides Update on Auction for the Sale of its Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet Business

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 13, 2009) - Nortel(1) Networks Corporation (OTCBB:NRTLQ) announced that in light of ongoing discussions with interested parties, it has decided to not hold the previously scheduled auction today in relation to the sale of its global Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet businesses. Qualified bidders are now required to submit offers by November 17, 2009. The Company expects to provide a further update on the auction process and sale of these businesses next week.

About Nortel

For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.

Nortel/Avaya deal gets key regulatory approvals

Jay Barta — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:55:24 GMT

Avaya and Nortel have received a couple of key regulatory approvals (see Reuters story here) for the proposed acquisition of Nortel's Enterprise business - namely, HSR Act and Canadian Competition Act approval.

For more details, check out today's post on Enterprise Technology - which includes some great videos (Avaya CEO Kevin Kennedy talks about the Nortel deal, and Avaya's keynote from VoiceCon last week).

Enterprise Roundtable Replay Available

Jay Barta — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:30:39 GMT

Hey, for anyone who missed Wednesday's Enterprise webinar, the archived version is now available here. Or, for more detail, check out Matt's post on the Enterprise Technology blog.

Nortel Hosting Enterprise Virtual Roundtable

Jay Barta — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:33:51 GMT

For any of you looking for more info on Nortel's Enterprise solutions - including an overview on the planned Avaya acquisition - you might want to check out an Enterprise Solutions webinar we're hosting November 4.

David Downing, Nortel's General Manager for Communications Solutions, and IDC Research Director Abner Germanow will host a virtual roundtable to discuss the Avaya deal (to the extent we can at this point in the process), as well as talk shop on Nortel IT networking strategies and technologies. They'll be joined by customers to discuss recent deployments. To register for the event, click here.

Supercomm Day 2: Nortel's CVAS Regional Class 5 Softswitch Takes Center Stage!

Jamie Moody — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:30:28 GMT

Today we announced that *Coalfields Telephone* has selected Nortel CVAS regional class 5 solution (the CS 1500) to provide advanced carrier-grade voice and multimedia services to residential and business subscribers across Eastern Kentucky. The CS 1500 will allow Coalfield Telephone's subscribers to enjoy click-to-call, unified messaging and single number service capabilities.

"Coalfields goal is to give our residential and business customers the latest and most innovative communication services available today," said John Schmoldt, director of operations, CoalfieldsTelephone. "We have relied on Nortel technology and expertise for nearly 30 years and they continue to help us provide reliable, robust and advanced communication services to our customers."

See press release here

We also announced that our CS 1500 has been integrated with GENBAND'S G2 Compact Gateway. The integrated solution helps regional carriers using several widely deployed, but no longer supported, third party legacy switches to consolidate their Class 5 offices through seamless migration to VoIP. The two can be deployed together to deliver a 50 percent savings when replacing a legacy switch. This savings is possible because the legacy line equipment is preserved while the core is completely modernized with IP switching and gateway equipment.

See press release here

You can also check out a video on YouTube from the Supercomm show floor that features Jim McLaughlin, one of Nortel's CS 1500 product marketing experts. Click here

Nortel CVAS at Supercomm 2009 in Chicago

Jamie Moody — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:46:31 GMT

Today is the first day of the Supercomm tradeshow in Chicago. Nortel CVAS is there (in booth 2120) and we've issued a number of press releases at the show. I'll be posting updates around our news and activity at the show today and tomorrow.

We announced hardware and software enhancements to our CS 2000 carrier IP softswitch. These enhancements include a new hardware platform, called the CS 2000a, which boosts service providers capacity in a smaller footprint, provides up to a 70 percent reduction in footprint and a 50 percent power savings compared to currently available platform options. It also lets service providers handle peak call periods more efficiently because it supports call capacity in excess of 5 million Busy Hour Call Attempts (BHCA). The software enhancements allow service providers to deliver a wide variety of new SIP business applications. See the press release here.

We introduced a new session-aware media gateway (called BCMG 1000) that helps service providers tackle challenges associated with expanding their VoIP networks. According to Jeremy Duke, an industry expert and top analyst at Synergy Research, As VoIP and multimedia solutions and applications have become more widely deployed, service providers need help addressing IP media impairments that have become more prevalent in their multi-access networks. This creates an emerging market for session aware media gateways like Nortel's BCMG 1000, which helps service providers to deliver communications across multiple IP networks and improve network quality, security and reliability. See complete press release here.

We announced new enhancements to our Carrier-Hosted Call Center solution that decrease business expenses because they eliminate the need for hiring or replacing high-priced IT expertise. According to Donna Fluss, President of DMG Consulting, the hosted contact center infrastructure market will grow by 30 percent, 35 percent, and 20 percent each year from 2009 to 2011 respectively, as cited in DMG's annual Hosted Contact Center Infrastructure Market Report, released in September, 2009. See press release here.

And, we issued an announcement about some of our consumer voice and multimedia solutions that help service providers compete with services offered by "over-the-top" Internet providers. These include a Web Portal that lets subscribers conveniently access features via the web from a secure portal offered by their carrier; Mobile Extension that utilizes Bluetooth and SIP capabilities to instruct the network to ring the subscriber's landline if their mobile device is in range; and an Entertainment Communications and Convergence application that lets subscribers make calls, view call logs, and send and receive Instant Messages from their TV using their remote control. See that press release here.