Nortel Buzzboard

BT Spain and Nortel CVAS Present New IP Business Communication Services for Business Subscribers

Jamie Moody — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:28:57 GMT

Earlier today BT Spainand Nortel CVAS hosted an event for BT enterprise and SMB customers at the BT Spain Customer Innovation Center in Madrid. At the event BT presented some of the latest enhancements to BT's iComms Unified Communication service which is powered by Nortel CVAS' Hosted IP Communication solution.

BT Spain's new service will help enable businesses to communicate and collaborate with greater flexibility and efficiency by making information easier to share while also reducing travel and expenses through advanced VoIP and teleworking capabilities. For example, business subscribers will be able to launch voice conference anytime on their own personal conference bridge or run web meetings on their personal web collaboration tool, sharing their desktop, whiteboarding, or running a presentation with colleagues or customer around the globe.

Key features of BT's iComms service include unified communications and Nortel's Personal Communicator PC Client; a customized web portal that businesses can use to create and manage communication services via a personalized Web applicaton; as well as a new multimedia office client that allows businesses to integrate real-time multimedia communications within Microsoft Outlook.

Check out some photos taken during the presentation below. In the first shot, Sergio Merino, BT executive, demonstrates Nortel's PC Client; in the second photo, Carlos Aragon, Nortel CVAS marketing expert presents the ROI of UC and carrier-hosted communications; the last picture is the Nortel-BT hosted solutions demo kit.

2010 NCTA Cable Show Recap

Jamie Moody — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:04:12 GMT

Nortel CVAS' booth at last week's 2010 NCTA Cable Show was busy!

We had many customers and partners stop-by to learn more about ways Nortel CVAS can equip MSOs to deliver advanced VoIP, business communications, mobility and entertainment services to end users -- both residential and business subscribers.

Some of the hot topics discussed in the Nortel CVAS booth were:

How MSOs can grow their subscriber numbers and use IP to tap into the SMB and enterprise space by providing unified communications and other advanced business services.
How MSOs can provide a more converged communications and entertainment experience to subscribers which can help MSOs to better compete against over-the-top video and Internet service providers.
How MSOs benefit from the plethora of communication platforms and devices which will fuel the delivery of anywhere, anytime voice and video content across a variety of fixed and mobile networks.

These are not necessarily new hot topics, however it is clear that MSOs are ready to provide anywhere, anytime communications, content and video that people desire. This is due in large part to advances in wireless data bandwidth and MSOs migration to IP as well as the gains in cable broadband bandwidth through the ongoing deployment of fiber backbone infrastructure. And, of course, the latest computing and mobile devices are so powerful and feature-rich, which helps allow people to enjoy a TV in their pocket experience.

Also at the show, we conducted a survey to better understand what types of services and communication preferences people desire. More than 400 people took the survey and below are some of the results:

When asked what type of service people would like to see in voice over cable, the top service was High-Definition Voice (at 24%) followed by fixed-mobile convergence and social media apps.
Survey respondents felt that having a single number for both mobile and home phones that rings at the same time has strong market potential.
And, when asked what they would do if their home TV stopped working for some reason, the majority of respondents said they would surf the web via their mobile device or enjoy a quiet evening at home.

Drop me a note if you want to hear more about Nortel CVAS' industry-leading softswitch and gateway portfolio that has supported more than 35 leading Cable MSOs and approximately 8 million cable subscribers across the globe.

Here are some pictures taken from the show. I hope to see you there next year!

Nortel CVAS is All Set for the 2010 Cable Show in Los Angeles

Jamie Moody — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:24:17 GMT

This week the Nortel CVAS team will be at the NCTA Cable Show in Los Angeles.

Hosted by the National Cable & Telecommunication Association (NCTA), the event brings together creative visionaries and technology leaders to showcase the latest advances in content delivery, programming and a new world of personal, portable content.

At our booth (#711) we will showcase a variety of innovations that help cable operators to compete and deliver advanced VoIP, multimedia and mobility services to residential and business subscribers. For a complete list of demos, see our press release from last week here.

I'll be joining the team (pictured from L-R: Jim McLaughlin, Jason Davidson, Ruth Young, Mitch Simcoe, Rich Krizan, Cris Constantinof and Greg Thor) at our booth tomorrow.

And, for this even, we decided to do something different this year and run a survey at the event to uncover some of the trends and communication preferences in the industry. I'll be posting updates from the show on this blog and via Twitter. You can follow me to get the latest @JamieMoody

Also if you're interested in seeing some of the sessions first-hand, all three Cable Show General Sessions will be available via live streaming video. You can link to the live feed at the following link: www.thecableshow.com/cablelive and video archives will also be available at www.thecableshow.com.

Nortel CVAS at ITPX - Talking Hosted IP

Jamie Moody — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:53:57 GMT

New research from In-Stat reveals that the government vertical is among the strongest industry verticals for VoIP adoption. Based on In-Stats survey, 48% of respondents in government institutions report that VoIP is deployed in at least one location. The report also found that Hosted IP Communications is something the government and healthcare verticals are interested in deploying or have already deployed.

This is great news for Nortel CVAS because many government networks are hosted using Nortel CVAS TDM Centrex switches. And, these enterprises will be happy to know that our solution offers a gradual migration path to IP by delivering a network that supports a mix of TDM and IP lines in the same business group. This enables the enterprise to migrate to IP in a phased approach rather than having to completely rip and replace all of their equipment. We can also leverage the existing telephony and TDM equipment that the business has installed to deliver unified communication, which means the business is getting more out of what they've already paid for and installed.

British Telecom has selected Nortel CVAS to provide a hosted business VoIP service that enables the migration of all legacy telephony services to IP in a large UK Government department. In this particular deployment, Nortel CVAS gear has demonstrated its scalability by supporting over 150,000 IP telephony lines in 1,100 customer sites, with a call handling capability of 3 million calls per day while supporting 20,000 call center agents.

This is just one example of Nortel CVAS' Hosted IP Communications solution that is powered by the CS 2000 softswitch and Adaptive Application Server SIP software engine.

Nortel CVAS experts will be at the upcoming ITPX event May 3-6, 2010 at the Flamingo Resort Hotel, Las Vegas, NV (booth 209) to showcase our Hosted IP Communication solutions for Large Enterprise. We will feature an interactive business case tool that will allow Enterprise IT professionals to compare the value and lower cost of ownership of Hosted IP Communications versus premise based IP telephony solutions.

Nortel CVAS' Rob Scheible will present the event Plenary Session on "How Centrex Customers can migrate to IP without dropping their TDM phone" on Wednesday May 5 from 8:30-9:30 a.m.

Nortel CVAS is #1 Supplier in Carrier VoIP and Softswitch Markets for 8 Years Running

Jamie Moody — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:26:01 GMT

Earlier today we issued a couple of announcements touting our industry-leadership in the Carrier VoIP space. One announcement points to recent data from Infonetics Research and Dell'Oro Group that name Nortel CVAS as the #1 global Carrier VoIP and Softswitch market leader for the fourth quarter of 2009. Infonetics also found that Nortel CVAS grew share in every sector of the VoIP market in 2009.

We also announced that Unified Communications magazine (a TMCNet publication) recently named Nortel CVAS' Adaptive UC solution as a recipient of its 2009 Product of the Year Award.

Are we patting ourselves on the back? Sure! These accomplishments were met during one of the most tumultuous times in the industry and our company's history. You can't deny the fact that Nortel's road has been... shall we say... bumpy since we filed Chapter 11. We've had to say good-bye to colleagues, products and businesses. We've been sold-off in bits and pieces to companies we once thought of as competitors. And, yet, through all this, the CVAS team has kept its focus and been able to keep that #1 leadership position.

Nortel has been ranked as the #1 Global Carrier VoIP and Softswitch leader since 2002. In the last year, we've added more than 40 new Carrier VoIP customers, 10 of which are Tier 1 operators. You can find Nortel CVAS gear on every continent and at work in 80 percent of IDC's worldwide listing of top 20 carriers (by revenue).

These accomplishments are a testament to the dedication and expertise of our employees, as well as our strong and loyal customer base of leading carriers across the globe.

According to Diane Myers, directing analyst, service provider VoIP and IMS for Infonetics Research:

Nortel CVAS has been a consistent leader in the Carrier VoIP market due to the company's foundation of voice expertise and commitment to next-generation VoIP solutions."

So, while Nortel CVAS is in the midst of a transition, we're moving forward, meeting our customer needs and we keep on pushing on, which is something that I am personally proud to be a part of.

Another Deal and Chapter Closes in the Nortel Story

Jamie Moody — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:03:53 GMT

Late yesterday Nortel announced that it has completed the sale of the company's GSM/GSM-R Business to Ericsson and Kapisch. To read the press release, click here.

And so, we close off another chapter of the Nortel story.

You may have also noticed that the Ottawa Citizen captured a shot of the Nortel signs outside the Ottawa facility being changed to the new owners - Ciena, Avaya and Ericsson.

When I joined Nortel nearly 10 years ago, I would have never thought we'd be where we are today. But, as my father often likes to say, "stuff happens." As the last corporate communications / PR person at Nortel, I get calls daily from the media (and other stakeholders) asking about the current state of Nortel and the employee sentiment.

While I cannot speak on behalf of the entire Nortel employee base that remains, I can tell you that overall, CVAS employees are positive and looking forward to the opportunity of joining GENBAND and working together to build a world-class IP infrastructure company.

We are making excellent progress on the integration planning and transition and working diligently to close the CVAS sale to GENBAND in the second quarter of 2010.

We have also received positive feedback from Nortel CVAS customers and partners with regard to GENBAND's vision, product direction and go-to-market strategy. GENBAND's business partners have also voiced their support for the transaction and are intrigued about the new possibilities moving forward, especially as it relates to IMS, FMC and LTE.

I will continue to provide you updates on the status of the CVAS sale to GENBAND.

And, in the meantime, if you're looking for PR contacts at the other companies, see a list below.

Jimmy Duvall, Ericsson PR - office: 972-583-5282 and email: jimmy.duvall@ericsson.com

Jay Barta, Avaya PR - office: 972-745-5195 and email: jbarta@avaya.com

Bo Gowan, Ciena - office: 972-685-8278 and email: sgowan@ciena.com

Nortel CVAS at VoiceCon 2010

Jamie Moody — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:05:41 GMT

Earlier this week the CVAS team exhibited at VoiceCon, an enterprise-focused tradeshow that took place in Orlando. The traffic to our booth was better than expected considering this was the first year that the CVAS ("Carrier") team attended the event which has historically been a key venue for our Enterprise (now Avaya) team. We met with nearly 50 carriers, enterprise and channel partners at the show and also had an opportunity to talk to some key enterprise analysts and press.

At the show, we shined a light on our new carrier-hosted IP communications solution that is ideal for large enterprises (more than 1,000 lines or seats) looking to deploy advanced IP communications like unified communications, mobility, advanced call center and conferencing applications. Because it is hosted (or "outsourced") to the service provider, the enterprise does not have to worry about the added costs and resources needed to deploy and manage a premise-based solution. According to our estimates, Hosted IP Communications can be deployed at 30% lower cost of ownership compared with an IP PBX solution.

Another advantage of the solution is that businesses do not have to rip and replace their existing telephony equipment because the platform can work across any combination of IP or TDM equipment. This is key because it allows enterprises to slowly migrate to IP in a phased approach and, if they so choose, they can have a "mixed" deployment. For example, the enterprise can have a hosted solution in their branch offices where they may not have as many resources/IT staff; and a premise-based solution at their headquarter site. This is all powered by Nortel CVAS' industry-leading CS 2000 and Adaptive Application Engine.

We worked with a team at Frost & Sullivan to explore the value of hosted-IP compared to premised-based communications. If you're interested in learning more about this comparison, please let me know.

In the photo, Mitch Simcoe, one of our product marketing experts, discusses Nortel CVAS' hosted IP communications solution.

My last Buzzboard post

Bo Gowan — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:58:36 GMT

With today's announcement that Ciena has completed the acquisition of Nortel's Optical and Carrier Ethernet businesses, my time at Nortel has come to an end. I, along with about 2,000 fellow employees, will officially become a Ciena employee at midnight tonight. So this will be my last post on Nortel Buzzboard. And while I'm very excited at the prospect of working at Ciena, I wanted to use this post to say goodbye.

The past 14 years that I've spent at Nortel have had their fair share of highs and lows. The friends and teammates that have been a part of everything we've done during that time have easily made the experience worthwhile. Many of those people have already moved on to new jobs, even new industries, but are still very much a part of what I remember about Nortel.

Other than the people and teams, the best part of my time at Nortel has been what we did on this blog and with Nortel's social media program. While much of that program is now gradually going away with the ongoing process of selling Nortel off, I think (hope) we did some good things while we were at it.

But don't leave this blog just yet...my Nortel teammate Jamie Moody will likely still have a few posts on this blog as the CVAS business continues through the process of being purchase by GENBAND.

Many of you have been following the optical industry and Nortel's MEN business for many years. I recommend you follow the shiny new Ciena Insights blog that is soon to go live on ciena.com. I'll be the blogs moderator and main contributor.

Thanks and feel free to keep in touch via Twitter.

Nortel completes deal with Ciena for acquisition of Optical and Carrier Ethernet Assets

Bo Gowan — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:08:43 GMT

Nortel has today announced that it has completed the sale of its Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet businesses to Ciena. You can see the Nortel press release here, and Ciena has also just issued a press release.

Per the Nortel release, Ciena paid an "all cash purchase price of approximately US$774 million, subject to a working capital adjustment currently estimated as a downward adjustment of approximately US$62 million."

As part of the deal, 2,000 Nortel employees are joining Ciena as of end of day March 19th, 2010, the effective date of the sale.

Unified Communications Helps Keep Businesses Running -- During a Blizzard or Other Unexpected Event

Jamie Moody — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:48:23 GMT

This past winter many workers across the country were unable to get to the office because of bad weather/snowstorms. Even here in Dallas, where we had record snowfall, workers were forced to stay off the roads and skip their daily commute. (Trust me - you do NOT want to be driving in Dallas when the roads are icy - many of the folks in this town do not know how to drive on that stuff!) And, even those workers that were able to drive in, were late due to traffic. All this time on the road and out of the office meant more voicemail and e-mail messages piled up at the office, missed meetings and business delays.

One way businesses can avoid this is with Unified Communications (UC) which allow people to work from practically any location and use all of their communication applications just like they would at the office. For example, with VoIP technology, a PC based softphone can be used on a worker's home PC and give them access to all of their office communications features. They can answer their office/business calls over their PC client, access voicemail, email, use presence, perform web collaboration, and much more.

Nortel CVAS offers a number of UC solutions that can be "hosted" by service providers. What does "hosted" mean exactly? It means that the business can enjoy all the bells and whistles and productivity benefits of UC without purchasing, installing and managing the CPE infrastructure. Nortel CVAS solution also lets a business deploy US in a phased approach, so they don't have to completely rip and replace all of their legacy/TDM equipment.

According to Nortel CVAS estimates, hosted UC solutions can be deployed at 30% lower total cost of ownership to the business bottom line over 3 years compared with an IP PBX solution while enabling an increase in productivity valued at US$500 per year per employee.

We'll be showcasing these solutions (and more as noted in our PRearlier this week) at our booth #631 at next week's VoiceCon tradeshow in Orlando. If you're attending, stop by our booth!

Why is Nortel's Carrier VoIP Group at a "Wireless" Show?

Jamie Moody — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:28:21 GMT

We've had a few folks ask us why the Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions group would attend Mobile World Congress, what many refer to as a "wireless" tradeshow.

There are a couple of reasons. First, while the title of this show is "mobile" the fact of the matter is that service providers are now operating converged networks that include wireless, wireline, and mobile IP broadband access. With IP broadband they've enabled a whole new world of IP Communications and, as the leader in Carrier IP Communications, Nortel CVAS clearly will be a leader in delivering Mobile VoIP over the new 4G broadband access networks. So, we're at Mobile World Congress because we provide VoIP solutions for any broadband service provider, whether they're wireless, wireline cable.

In addition, we offer a number of solutions to support fixed-mobile convergence over 2G, 3G and 4G. For example, Nortel's Mobile Extension application gives subscribers the ability to use their mobile phone (any mobile) to access the same voice calling features of their corporate network, like dialing by extension, conferencing, and call transferring capabilities. And we offer mobile carriers a new way to commercialize their IP broadband service. Click here to check out a video of Nortel's Mobile Extension on YouTube.

Nortel CVAS has many commercial deployments with service providers around the globe that leverage our Mobile VoIP and FMC solutions for consumer and business users. One great example is a Mobile Converged Desktop launched by Telefonica as "Communicator" in 2009. Our solution allows Telefonica Spain customers to control calls to and from any cellular phone using a laptop application. With the click of a mouse, the laptop's interface can be used to initiate and transfer calls on any cellular phone. We have other mobile deployments with customers that we have not yet announced, but one great example is our work with a major service provider to provide VoIP and voice call continuity between WIMAX, WiFi and CDMA.

Nortel CVAS has also tested many terminals like the latest smartphones with our VoIP and multimedia solutions (iPhone, Symbian-based devices, Windows Mobile based ones and soon Android) to assist carriers in offering services and solutions that their customers want, without having to buy all new equipment.

So while Nortel CVAS does not sell CDMA or LTE base stations or access equipment, we are a key provider of 4G Mobile VoIP and FMC over any wireless broadband access network. And, attending Mobile World Congress gives us a fantastic opportunity to meet with our customers, partners and key players in the industry and let them know about our innovative products and services.

Nortel CVAS at Mobile World Congress 2010

Jamie Moody — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:43:13 GMT

This week Nortel CVAS is at the GSMA Mobile World Congress tradeshow in Barcelona, Spain to discuss Nortel's Carrier VoIP innovations and work to help leading carriers converge their wireline, wireless and cable networks to IP. Mobile World Congress is billed as the industry's pre-eminent forum to showcase broadband-enabled wireless and converged network technologies as well as the business solutions and services powered by broadband.

Nortel CVAS issued two announcements at the show.

We announced that we've added Edgewater Networks, a leading provider of Network Services Gateways to our Large Enterprise carrier-hosted offer which equips service providers to tap into the growing market opportunity of carrier-hosted IP communications, which is expected to reach $8.4 billion worldwide by 2013. See PR here

And, we announced that we've expanded the Nortel CVAS Interoperability

program, which gives carriers a complete, end-to-end testing environment tailored to the carrier's specific needs and subscriber demands. Nortel has completed interoperability testing with more than 100 companies and 200 partner products. These tests have included mobile terminals/handsets, line access gateways and IP PBXs, Application Servers and Softswitches, Enterprise Edge devices, Session Border Controllers, Set Top Boxes and OSS systems. Nortel has achieved interoperability success with over 80% of the industry's leading IP PBXs and IP phone manufacturers, has tested across all major broadband access types and 100% of the IP Protocols. See PR here

For more information on our IOT program, click here

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).