Who Wants a MEN?

By Mark Evans | Published: June 25, 2009

With Nortel’s CDMA and LTE businesses in the process of being sold to Nokia Siemens, the next assets on the block are the enterprise and Metro Ethernet Network businesses.

LightReading’s Craig Matsumoto offers up a list of potential buyers for MEN.

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  • S_O_S_This_is_HMS_Nortel

    It would make more sense for ALU to take over the optical division including the MSS products which have a hugh installed base and still generating good service revenue.

    ALU has already had Nortel's UMTS access and a good present in Ottawa (former Newbridge). This way they can squeeze out the competition and distance themselves from Cienna and other small players in this space.

  • horace_grimswold

    Whomever tried to buy it in 2008 (before Mike Z pulled MEN's “For Sale” sign down) [and then put it back up in backruptcy]) steals the deal.

    Why? That buyer will have had the most experience negotiating with Nortel's used car sales department, and will be the only one capable of handling the stupidity that Nortel throws their way. “Hmm, offer of $1.5 billion? (taps index finger on desk) That seems really low…let me go talk to my boss. Are you SURE you don't want the Scotchguard protection for the seats?”

  • JlouisMeneghetti

    Maybe so. But ALU's pockets are depleted…

  • alcdeme

    Dogs on the streets of Ottawa know that Nortel's MEN is about to be snapped up by a management buy out. Watch out for the new Nortel coming you way soon.

  • gone2moro

    The MENopause division should spin off on their own or go to an equity firm. Then once the dust has settle and it is more clear what there really is left of value, a marriage with maybe Ciena could be a good thing.

    Keeps the technology in North American hands which will make the major US operators happy and they can use the good Ciena name which so far isn't assoicated felonious crimes.

  • ntpurgatory

    A quick diversion here from the post, but interesting nonetheless. NRTLQ.PK is up today – ever so slightly, but still indicating buys are out pacing sell orders. Yes, the over all market is up today, but goodness gracious me who in their right mind would buy Nortel stock period? Hopefully I'm missing something… I'd figure it'd be below a penny by now… Granted, 4 cents a share is close…

  • cooluswiz

    How about Nortel breaking up enterprise Data and Voice and selling Voice to Siemens and Data part will be disloved or liqu. Its coming on before 30 June as now the conference call has moved to June 30th…The great leaders of Nortel will make sure that they screw it up of whatever is left in transition…The question is who and why will anybody buy Data part of Nortel….for customer who are already fed up and got nailed in head by the management of Nortel.

  • another_optimist

    what conference call are you referring to on the June 30th?

  • NortelEngineer

    Pls keep the nonsense with you only. Pls avoid spreading rumors like this. This site is for the people who r really serious about Nortel.

  • NortelEngineer

    Is ALU really in position to acquire any company?? I guess they also have to file CH 11 if they go for purchasing Nortel’s MEN.

  • Meridian

    I've also wondered if any potential buyer wanted one or the other (voice or data) and how that might play out. Although Ent voice and Ent data theoretically have the same target customers, Nortel has not really had large scale success at having one pull thru sales for the other.

    Would 2 halves be worth more than the whole ?

  • Another_Nortel_Watcher

    Let me see the carfax report.

  • less

    Men dont let MEN drive drunk.

  • gone2moro

    Dunno… when MCI went to the pink sheets in bankruptcy huge brokerage house were buying up stock in the hope that they would awarded a piece of the company when it came out. But they were buying stock in the bazillions of shares. Individuals better stay away from that game.

  • gone2moro

    You realize all that will be announce is the guidance that was given at the announcement of the NSN deal. They will re-itterate the NSN deal and the fact that a sell of is the best path forward. The stock is being delisted. The will state that they will have the details of the final outcome on Sept 11.

  • gone2moro

    Yeah.. but what of Nortel Gov Solutions…. I'd like to hear about them.

    Do they rename themselves “NO NORTEL GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS” or “NORTELESS GOVERNEMENT SOLUTIONS”.

    Maybe if they still sell pieces parts from all of the companies who have bought the NT gear it would be:

    NOKIA SIEMENS AVAYA ERICCSON CIENA HUAWEI GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS.

    he he.. they have got to be sweating bullets….

  • dljvjbsl

    The word that I hear is that Nortel voice is no longer a factor in the market. I've heard competitors say just that. They no longer consider Nortel a factor in the competitive landscape in voice.

  • borissss

    what do you mean?

  • nothappyanymore

    he meant a GIS by J flanagan, wich was supposedly to ocurr today and suddently was moved to june 30th…
    imho is not related to his hunch

  • TongueInCheek

    It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that Nortel competitors are trying to downplay the Nortel market position. That's what competitors do. However, market share data and current install base suggests otherwise.

    Nortel Enterprise needs to decide quickly who they will sign the Stalking Horse Agreement with so that life can go on and customers can make decisions.

  • less

    In 12-18 months, then…….

  • less
  • phenix

    No matter who buys what lets just hope they have enough business sense to separate the talent and worthy products from the massive overhead of managers and redundancy otherwise they will suffer the same fate. Nortel today looks and acts more like a government agency than a high tech company, its the only hope for the employees who survive the breakup.

  • Nortelinio

    They could just go back to their old name – PEC Solutions (which Nortel bought in 2005 for US $448M)

  • vvvv

    MEN is not profitable in terms of product sales. This is public knowledge (http://www.nortel.com/corporate/investor/collat…). The only profits from MEN are derived from product-attached Services, formerly reported under Wendt.

    People talk of MEN with awe, as if it were a national asset. Wake up and look at the numbers. Nortel hasn't made a dime in Optical for nearly 10 years. Sure, there's hope that 40G/100G puts gold at the end of the rainbow, but that's mere hope.

  • ThePuppet

    Companies move jobs to cheap countries to improve their profits
    The values obtain from this cheap people are selling in the old richs countries,the are no jobs there so who going to buy the things.Is the serpent eating her tail.

    Someone decide pay 25 millons a guy for a Job, Is the guy a superhero?
    for this amount of money why dont try with jesus?

  • NortelTragedy

    Good point … is Services a nugget that's getting buried in the mire?

  • ThePuppet

    You can buy the same hardware any vendor,obiusly chinese state supported company is cheaper.
    The managers of telecomunications companies dont know anything about the way the solucion works, you can use 100g wavelentgh or 10 10G after all they are overpaid people like our superhero.

    We are in not fair conditions to compete, so only diference are in the services and people, you can buy a OM solution , like most of ours competitors

  • zeroman

    MEN is mostly legacy with only 40G / 100G being the future. in the end its a transport box that only does plumbing. who cares? only matter of time before someone else catches up if not yet.

    Morin spent millions over 2 years in carrier ethernet, mers and something called metornext only to kill it. no surprise since McFeely the product management VP did that before sinking 200 million in an edge platform that never saw the light of day.

  • zeroman

    data piece is dead.

  • another_optimist

    ^hey everyone look it's a Cisco Troll.

    Obviously you have no clue about the actual value of the Nortel data portfolio.

    Stop spreading lies and FUD.

  • less

    I hear Michael Jackson has submitted a bid for the rest of Nortel

  • zeroman

    neverland networks. now thats funny.

  • vv_sirish

    Michael Jackson is dead! :-(

  • biddut

    Although I understand the joke, he passed away just this afternoon. How about a little sympathy?

  • bankrupt_bob

    “Nortel Holds 41 Percent Share of 40G Market, Expected to Hit US$1.2 Billion by 2013″

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Nortel-Holds-41-P…

    HOW can this company be in bankruptcy? We're talking a $1.2B company on 40G alone. OK, it's not the “old Nortel,” but…..

  • OffTheChains

    I have $4 in my wallet. I will be a backup to MJ's bid. If it falls through let me know.

  • http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

    This story was already reported by another commenter. Note that the source of the story is Nortel itself. We all know how accurate their statements have been in the past, i.e. “no bankruptcy is imminent”, “no firesale”, “no liquidation”, etc.

  • Who_are_u_kidding

    MEN's only value prop right now is about bringing to the world fat pipes. No real access differentiator, no control plane, etc. just fat pipes.

    As clever as the scheme is to bring these fat pipes to reality, they are still only fat pipes. This is a temporary advantage and competitors are working hard to close the gap.

    The rest of the porfolio is lacking in features and dispersed all over the optical market spectrum… hard to get an end-to-end view of what MEN's proposition is or for that matter, what vision they hold for the future. For instance, MEN is at least 2 to 3 years behind in packet optical transport technologies.

    Aside getting a shortcut to 40G – 100G technologies, what would a Ciena for instance benefit from acquiring MEN ? A solid R&D team and possibly some sales teams that are well established in specific customers.

    The rest, ie the executives, the PLMs, the marketing, etc. are useless to the buyer specially given the amazing track record made by this group over the last years: HDX, MPE, Metro-Next, PBB, PON, Huawey JV, incursion in the video distribution market, etc. to the point that their success in 40G seems like a fluke.

    Hopefully this pittyful saga is about to end.

  • less

    Hmmm. It could be Cisco made him as the stalking horse.
    Well, technically, it was more like moonwalking, but,…

    </conspiracy hat>

  • zeroman

    norty marketing. morin did a good job selling a story but like the nortel pedigree executive, he failed to deliver.

  • zeroman

    tragic about MJ passing away. but his legacy still has more value than nortel. 750 million records is one heck of an achievement. at $15 a CD that is $11.25 billion for the record companies. one man!!!!!!!

    in memory of MJ, a few songs to Nortel execs
    - Beat it
    - I (Z) am Bad

  • zeroman

    maybe but it will fail miserably with nortel management at the helm.

  • nortel_ottawa

    actually that came from Dell'Oro Group. Did you even read the whole article or just the title?

  • Norterrible

    You can toss in most of their R&D team as well given that they are still operating in the pre-bubble days. How can they actually deliver any of the newer technologies when they are bloated with old architects, inept managers, and back-stabbing directors that add no value to the business or anything to increase sales? As for the failures of the platforms, R&D can take a huge part of those failures given that they delivered the highest priced products on the market without any sense of what customers were willing to pay. Dino's old boys club is circling their wagons and protecting their high-priced low-value positions while the doers are all being let go or quitting on their own accord. The whole division is sick from within from the inept cabinet to the old R&D teams, and everything in between, so please put an end this dying animal now.

  • Norterrible

    MEN has never shown a profit so it is quite clear what will happen if they are spun off to be a standalone company… bankrupt.

  • Norterrible

    Everything McFeely has touched has turned to dust

  • Norterrible

    Can someone please translate the Engrish post above?

  • Norterrible

    NGS is a joke. They have promised to break into the lucrative government market space and have failed miserably.

  • less

    There are more parallels – MJ, feeling rejected by his own miserly countrypersons, sought solace, inspiration and finance abroad, specifically in the global villages of Bahrain and Dubai, where he contemplated building centers of Islam worship excellence similar to that of his own, Neverland, where children ruled.

    A few ten million $$$ and pending lawsuits over unfinished businesses later, the Recognized Global Leader of Pop was back home doing whatever he pleased, working out with the Hulk and his loyal adoring fans, to leverage electrifying synergies of music and dance to power the world in inified, even universal. communication.

    Alas, his long-broken heart, in Ch 11, so to speak, finally filed Ch 7.

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