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Avaya touted for Nortel enterprise unit, and brand could survive
Published: 25 June, 2009
Tags >> Nortel Networks
The markets are waiting to see whether an alternative bid for Nortel's LTE and CDMA businesses emerges to gazump that of Nokia Siemens - perhaps from a player that would also want to take on the GSM and core networking/VoIP assets. But the next sell-off is likely to be the enterprise networks operation, with Avaya the current analyst favorite to bid.
Most analysts expect the enterprise unit, Nortel's second largest after Carrier Networks, to fetch about the same price as the $650m offered for LTE/CDMA. And the venerable Nortel name might not disappear altogether, hinted Richard Lowe, Carrier Networks' president. According to Telephony, Lowe said Nortel could sell its brand as well as its individual business units. "Nortel as a brand could very well continue to exist," he said. "It could as part of one of the business sales, given the brand recognition Nortel has."
Some observers are still betting on a rump of Nortel, complete with the name and probably based around its Metro Ethernet unit, surviving, but that is probably becoming more of an outside chance now that Nortel has confirmed it will pursue a break-up strategy to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Also on the table are Global Services, the other parts of the Carrier Networks portfolio, the LG-Nortel joint venture and an infrastructure alliance with Hitachi in Japan.
