I wrote this blog post for AllAboutNortel.com and am re-posting this on TheTelecomBlog.com.
Oddly enough, there still seems to be a steady stream of press releases, product update notices, and new wins for Nortel which can be found on their web site (click here)
Why ?
I understand that many firms have an extremely vested interest in Nortel hardware, need software updates or some new features, and a fork-lift upgrade is too cost prohibitive. But new wins ? Why would a company, given the choice among Cisco, Avaya, Mitel, Asterisk and so many other viable brands, choose to deploy a NEW Nortel solution ?
And then the next question is – why is Nortel still introducing new product updates for some of these products ?
Nortel is in a precarious position at the moment. They need to continue developing products, updates, and position new sales opportunities in light of the pending sale of the Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet divisions, and on the Enterprise side, the sale to Avaya could, or might not officially close. It’s not a done deal until it’s done. They need to continue developing products to keep the company and division sale prospects alive.
I’m still surprised that from a competitive perspective, companies are still entertaining new Nortel systems. Where at one time I would see Nortel positioned in every opportunity I now see them 1 in 5 times. But I’m still surprised that: there are companies considering new Nortel systems, and even more, that there are North American dealers that still only position Nortel in new opportunities. What should an exclusive legacy Nortel voice or data dealer do at this point ? I suspect that many are hanging on stubbornly until the very end – but why ? I haven’t quite figured that out.
In addition, Nortel is still sending out email notices with new product announcements, and oddly enough, new training classes for their products. Again, I guess there are dealers that need to get their older legacy technicians trained.
The irony is, the company is dead. They are closing shop. Yet, over the last 2 weeks they made 12 announcements. As Yogi Berra said “It ain’t over till it’s over”.
Did you like this post ? You might also like the Telecom 2.0 post.
Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed
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A group of former Nortel (Enterprise) contractors and staff has recently formed a Company specifically focused on the 1 million or so Enterprise legacy systems that are still actively doing their thing day-in-day-out. We have deliberately chosen to sell through the Nortel Dealer / Consultant network with a Business Model that motivates them to stay close to their Nortel Customers so that they can derive follow-on annual license renewal fees, painlessly and reliably.
Our first software solution is Voice Message Forwarding by Email (and with SMS notification). The Company’s self-directive is to build technically difficult solutions and deliver them in the simplest-to-implement-and-use “wrappers”. The opportunities for the next 5 years in the Nortel Enterprise legacy sector are almost boundless. We as a group are far from pessimistic.