It wasn’t that long ago when Wi-Max was seen as a key part of Nortel’s strategic direction. Today, however, Nortel said it’s bailing out of the business and ending joint venture agreement with Alvarion, which was unveiled to much fanfare just seven months ago.
“We are taking rapid action to narrow our strategic focus to areas where we can drive maximum return on investment,” Richard Lowe, Nortel’s president of carrier networks said in a statement, adding that “Our continued success in the wireless business requires us to focus our energy on opportunities with long-standing customers. This will position Nortel more effectively to capitalize on future resurgence of carrier spend levels and drive value to the business.”
The move should be a surprise given Nortel failed to emerge as a leading supplier in the Wi-Max business. The decision perhaps illustrates how Nortel is going to be pruning its technology portfolio as it attempts to reinvent itself.
Still, it is interesting that talk about Nortel getting out of the Wi-Max business was happening two years ago. At the time, Lowe declared that “No one should question our resolve,” Richard Lowe, president of Nortel’s Mobility and Converged Core Networks (MCCN) business, said at this week’s CTIA Wireless 2007 conference here. “Our team is very focused on WiMAX. We want a Tier 1 win.”
Unstrung has more thoughts on Nortel’s Wi-Max withdrawl, while even The Boy Genius Report is talking about Nortel these days.
LonelyOpsGuy, Nortel has had some notable success with WiMAX d. They are working on the largest 3.65GHz network in the US currently with Fairpoint (large Tier 2 telco): http://www2.nortel.com/go/news_detail.jsp?cat_i…
LonelyOpsGuy
I'm pretty sure Fairpoint is feeling really comfortable now, after the announcement. And I'm pretty sure that Fairpoint success will drive additional customers and revenue for Nortel.
disquswatcher
LonelyOpsGuy, Nortel has had some notable success with WiMAX d. They are working on the largest 3.65GHz network in the US currently with Fairpoint (large Tier 2 telco): http://www2.nortel.com/go/news_detail.jsp?cat_i…
LonelyOpsGuy
I'm pretty sure Fairpoint is feeling really comfortable now, after the announcement. And I'm pretty sure that Fairpoint success will drive additional customers and revenue for Nortel.
Nortel Bails Out of Wi-Max
It wasn’t that long ago when Wi-Max was seen as a key part of Nortel’s strategic direction. Today, however, Nortel said it’s bailing out of the business and ending joint venture agreement with Alvarion, which was unveiled to much fanfare just seven months ago.
“We are taking rapid action to narrow our strategic focus to areas where we can drive maximum return on investment,” Richard Lowe, Nortel’s president of carrier networks said in a statement, adding that “Our continued success in the wireless business requires us to focus our energy on opportunities with long-standing customers. This will position Nortel more effectively to capitalize on future resurgence of carrier spend levels and drive value to the business.”
The move should be a surprise given Nortel failed to emerge as a leading supplier in the Wi-Max business. The decision perhaps illustrates how Nortel is going to be pruning its technology portfolio as it attempts to reinvent itself.
Still, it is interesting that talk about Nortel getting out of the Wi-Max business was happening two years ago. At the time, Lowe declared that “No one should question our resolve,” Richard Lowe, president of Nortel’s Mobility and Converged Core Networks (MCCN) business, said at this week’s CTIA Wireless 2007 conference here. “Our team is very focused on WiMAX. We want a Tier 1 win.”
Unstrung has more thoughts on Nortel’s Wi-Max withdrawl, while even The Boy Genius Report is talking about Nortel these days.
Technorati Tags: Nortel, richard lowe, wi-max