Comments on: What Could Have Been http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/ All the News about Nortel Networks Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:34:00 +0000 hourly 1 By: Primo Fiorentini http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-9177 Primo Fiorentini Wed, 04 Feb 2009 02:25:19 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-9177 nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now ;-)<br>keep it up nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now ;-)
keep it up

]]> By: Still_Here http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2625 Still_Here Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:41:08 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2625 If traditional Nortel business units were doing well now (carrier/cellular) then I could buy this line. However, they are in the tank. This sounds like a mix between nostalgia and finger pointing. <br><br>The place to point the finger is rigid carrier centric management that had no understanding how to deal with Enterprise, let alone Enterprise data. The funny thing is that Nortel is now dependent on Enterprise to save the day. If only they had spent a little time and effort to maintain market share 10 years ago this would all be a little easier.<br><br>I do think we can all agree that the guy who thought buying Clarify was a good idea, was an idiot. He must have had the Novell disease (we are good at one thing so we must be good at everything). If traditional Nortel business units were doing well now (carrier/cellular) then I could buy this line. However, they are in the tank. This sounds like a mix between nostalgia and finger pointing.

The place to point the finger is rigid carrier centric management that had no understanding how to deal with Enterprise, let alone Enterprise data. The funny thing is that Nortel is now dependent on Enterprise to save the day. If only they had spent a little time and effort to maintain market share 10 years ago this would all be a little easier.

I do think we can all agree that the guy who thought buying Clarify was a good idea, was an idiot. He must have had the Novell disease (we are good at one thing so we must be good at everything).

]]> By: why_ask_why http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2626 why_ask_why Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:38:13 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2626 I love how people rewrite history. Shortly after Bay was bought, the long haul optical market exploded. Everyone was going to have high speed optical to every home. The money flowed like water into this so Nortel completely ignored data and focused all of their attention and money to this side of the business. During this time Nortel went from number one in the world in layer 3 switching to the bottom of the list. Nortel invested nothing in data R&D and they started canceling all of the next gen products that didn’t work like a charm at the starting gate. Who cares about the data products we are making a fortune of Carrier optical. Then Allen greenspan rose the interest rates one time to many and just about all the capital investment in optical was pulled out. It was the data contracts from Bay that kept Nortel afloat during this time but when the dust cleared they found themselves left far behind in the data world and have since made bad decision after bad decision in their attempts to get out of the ditch. If Nortel bought someone else they would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. I love how people rewrite history. Shortly after Bay was bought, the long haul optical market exploded. Everyone was going to have high speed optical to every home. The money flowed like water into this so Nortel completely ignored data and focused all of their attention and money to this side of the business. During this time Nortel went from number one in the world in layer 3 switching to the bottom of the list. Nortel invested nothing in data R&D and they started canceling all of the next gen products that didn’t work like a charm at the starting gate. Who cares about the data products we are making a fortune of Carrier optical. Then Allen greenspan rose the interest rates one time to many and just about all the capital investment in optical was pulled out. It was the data contracts from Bay that kept Nortel afloat during this time but when the dust cleared they found themselves left far behind in the data world and have since made bad decision after bad decision in their attempts to get out of the ditch. If Nortel bought someone else they would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.

]]> By: why_ask_why http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2627 why_ask_why Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:27:48 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2627 The article and all the comments are bull. I love how people rewrite history. Shortly after Bay was bought the long haul optical market exploded. Everyone was going to have high speed optical to every home. The money flowed like water into this so Nortel completely ignored data and focused all of their attention and money to this side of the business. During this time Nortel went from number one in the world in layer 3 switching to the bottom of the list. Nortel invested nothing in data R&D and they started canceling all of the next gen products that didn’t work like a charm at the starting gate. Who cares about the data products we are making a fortune of Carrier optical. Then Allen greenspan rose the interest rates one time to many and just about all the capital investment in optical was pulled out. It was the data contracts from Bay that kept Nortel afloat during this time but when the dust cleared they found themselves left far behind in the data world and have since made bad decision after bad decision in their attempts to get out of the ditch. The article and all the comments are bull. I love how people rewrite history. Shortly after Bay was bought the long haul optical market exploded. Everyone was going to have high speed optical to every home. The money flowed like water into this so Nortel completely ignored data and focused all of their attention and money to this side of the business. During this time Nortel went from number one in the world in layer 3 switching to the bottom of the list. Nortel invested nothing in data R&D and they started canceling all of the next gen products that didn’t work like a charm at the starting gate. Who cares about the data products we are making a fortune of Carrier optical. Then Allen greenspan rose the interest rates one time to many and just about all the capital investment in optical was pulled out. It was the data contracts from Bay that kept Nortel afloat during this time but when the dust cleared they found themselves left far behind in the data world and have since made bad decision after bad decision in their attempts to get out of the ditch.

]]> By: broadbandbill http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2628 broadbandbill Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:17:06 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2628 The acquisition move was a brilliant vision; the execution, including the integration of the same was abysmal. It was all those ‘bell heads’ at then-Nortel (some of whom are still there and still in a position of power) that laughed at the QoS of data networks, never realizing that these things we call ASICs (or DSPs) and algorithms would eventually solve that problem. Cisco new that but Alcatel, Nortel, Siemens et al preferred not to see the future. Well, the future had arrived and biting pretty hard. <br><br>The real sad reality is that Nortel still has a way out (VoIP) but, once again, execution is abysmal. Even more regrettable is that this time vision is lacking as well…--bb The acquisition move was a brilliant vision; the execution, including the integration of the same was abysmal. It was all those ‘bell heads’ at then-Nortel (some of whom are still there and still in a position of power) that laughed at the QoS of data networks, never realizing that these things we call ASICs (or DSPs) and algorithms would eventually solve that problem. Cisco new that but Alcatel, Nortel, Siemens et al preferred not to see the future. Well, the future had arrived and biting pretty hard.

The real sad reality is that Nortel still has a way out (VoIP) but, once again, execution is abysmal. Even more regrettable is that this time vision is lacking as well…–bb

]]> By: joremero http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2629 joremero Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:57:45 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2629 those 9 billion dollars would be like tons of gold for NT right now... those 9 billion dollars would be like tons of gold for NT right now…

]]> By: Nortel-Bay Networks: The Deal That Bombed | The VAR Guy http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2367 Nortel-Bay Networks: The Deal That Bombed | The VAR Guy Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:02:37 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2367 [...] VAR Guy was intrigued today, when he read Mark Evans’ blog entry rehashing of Nortel Networks’ 1998 acquisition of Bay Networks. Evans wonders if Nortel would [...] [...] VAR Guy was intrigued today, when he read Mark Evans’ blog entry rehashing of Nortel Networks’ 1998 acquisition of Bay Networks. Evans wonders if Nortel would [...]

]]> By: AnotherSlave http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2630 AnotherSlave Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:17:42 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2630 It's almost criminal what they did to Bay Networks. It's almost criminal what they did to Bay Networks.

]]> By: AlfredLee http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2631 AlfredLee Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:06:23 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2631 At the time of the acquisition Bay was on the ropes and dealing with the prior merger between Wellfleet and Synoptics. At the time there were very few companies that could match Cisco. Where Nortel failed was in limiting the innovation between the two companies. There is still very little synergy between the data and voice product lines. Bay had its next generation products on the roadmap but they were scrapped. It was not too long before Cisco gained respect for its VOIP products and how well they integrated across the product lines. The acquisition of Bay Networks was not a bad deal or a flawed cultural fit. The failure has benn and continues to be with the Nortel Leadership. Mr Roth's right hand turn eventually drove Nortel right over a cliff. At the time his vision was right. However, there was never any execution on a single vision. Anyone remember the confusion around INCA and then Succession? Too many false starts and mis-management. At the time of the acquisition Bay was on the ropes and dealing with the prior merger between Wellfleet and Synoptics. At the time there were very few companies that could match Cisco. Where Nortel failed was in limiting the innovation between the two companies. There is still very little synergy between the data and voice product lines. Bay had its next generation products on the roadmap but they were scrapped. It was not too long before Cisco gained respect for its VOIP products and how well they integrated across the product lines. The acquisition of Bay Networks was not a bad deal or a flawed cultural fit. The failure has benn and continues to be with the Nortel Leadership. Mr Roth's right hand turn eventually drove Nortel right over a cliff. At the time his vision was right. However, there was never any execution on a single vision. Anyone remember the confusion around INCA and then Succession? Too many false starts and mis-management.

]]> By: Nortel watcher http://www.allaboutnortel.com/2008/12/15/what-could-have-been/comment-page-1/#comment-2632 Nortel watcher Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:58:00 +0000 http://www.allaboutnortel.com/?p=1784#comment-2632 ditto that. ditto that.

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