Avaya Deal to be Reviewed

By Mark Evans | Published: September 24, 2009

It looks the federal government has been listening to the growing number of critics who have been chirping away about how foreign buyers are picking up Nortel’s assets with little opposition from Ottawa.

It may explain why the federal government has decided to review Avaya’s $915-million purchase of Nortel Networks Corp’s enterprise business – a move that comes after Ottawa recently declined to review Ericsson’s $1.13-billion acquisition of Nortel’s CDMA wireless business and LTE R&D unit.

“We’ve determined that in this case the Avaya deal is in fact subject to review under the Investment Canada Act,” Industry Minister Tony Clement said, adding it was standard procedure for foreign investments that have a book value of $312 million.

You have to wonder what Research in Motion executives are thinking given how adamant they were about having the Ericsson deal reviewed.

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  • zeroman

    Lip service. If disallowed does that mean a 200 million penalty has to be paid out. wow. thats one heck of a soup to be in.

  • protosphere

    When Nortel sold off CDMA/LTE (less LTE patents) Nortel said the book value of the assets was only $149 million US. How can they circumvent the intent of law when it sold for at $1.1B, and multiply higher than this $312 threshold for inquiry.

    RIM opposed this sale as they already signed agreements prior to their bankruptcy that changed everything to being “thwarted at every turn”.

    It seems to me that RIM was as favored by a government review as they were the OSC who fined them a precedent for options backdating and Nortel absolutely nothing for the largest fraud in Canada. Why wasn't this review based on actual value it was acquired for than some lame book value Nortel claimed like they or their numbers hold any credibility? Especially when they announced seeking to unloading all assets immediately following forced government inquiry.

    Verizon opposed the Avaya deal too with no avail, understandably, being a customer of Nortel and not Avaya for this area's concern.

    Yet how is $900M Enterprise being reviewed and not $1.1B CDMA/LTE?

    Does Verizon have some one on the inside like the movie “Wall Street” Geko's Appropriation Committee or did Nortel actually state a more honest book value relative to what it was sold for.

    Neither RIM nor Verizon could block the sale so far as government suddenly sparks an interest on laws that Nortel's army of powerful lawyers circumvent before loopholes are closed or because they simply are able to do so. From printing money, to cutting severances, to printing paper before loopholes are closed, etc… About time some one got the slippery weasels on a technicality, like Capone for tax evasion.

    One has to ask why law is based on the book value than what it is actually worth and whether this law needs review as well as federal bankruptcy laws in connection with severances or laws requiring a secured reserve for pensions in able to operate.

    Why are they reviewing this? Is it automatic theatrics because the book value for a $900M sale exceeds 312M? What will they say after review? No? I hardly think so…

  • protosphere

    Theatrics, I agree. Like what did the forced government inquiry accomplish with so little teeth than forcing them to attend.

    I question whether the $200M penalty would apply given this would be beyond Avaya's control. Heh, instead, I think this would be a blessing in disguise for Avaya's ENORMOUS risk /gamble =)

    However unlikely, imagine if the government blew the sale. Furthermore, if it was sold for less or unable to be sold thereafter at a lower book value given the lesser interest and ongoing lack of profit.

    Who knows what goes on behind closed doors in agreements that are perfectly legal and who stands to gain from them given big business is favored.

    What does the government hope to accomplish by neglecting the larger value they obtained for aging CDMA and so little development time to LTE yet targeting that which sells in this chronically unprofitable Enterprise.

  • yes4aapl

    Why are they reviewing this? Is it automatic theatrics because the book value for a $900M sale exceeds 312M? What will they say after review? No? I hardly think so…
    ====
    re
    Yes my friend, you are right.
    It's more Canadian theatrics as you call it.
    Answer is that a company under BK protection should not be reviewed by ICICA
    http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ica-lic.nsf/eng/lk…
    What is confusing?
    In reality Nortel is liquidating assets.
    Nortel is under BK protection but at the same time is liquidating assets.
    Nortel is not in normal business anymore.

    What is the book value in the liquidation?

    Investopedia explains Book Value
    Book value is the accounting value of a firm. It has two main uses:

    1. It is the total value of the company's assets that shareholders would theoretically receive if a company were liquidated.

  • yes4aapl

    TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada's industry minister said on Thursday the government will review Avaya Inc's AVXX.UL purchase of Nortel Networks Corp's (NRTLQ.PK) enterprise business to see if the deal is in Canada's best interest.
    ====
    re
    again and again
    1. If the deal is in Canada's best interest?
    what other options Canada has? Stop the liquidation of Nortel's assets?
    2. The review of the deal is not based on ICICA is it?
    The Act is clear about that
    It says that business under liquidation cannot be reviewed by ICICA
    Let me copy/paste some of it

    Defunct Business
    A business which has ceased normal operations and become defunct, as exemplified when the business has permanently closed due to its unprofitability, or has been permanently abandoned or discontinued due to a number of reasons, including depletion of reserves, obsolete plant, machinery, equipment, technological processes or product lines, and the closure did not occur for any purpose related to the Act, is not a “business” as defined in section 3 of the Act, and hence the acquisition of its control would not be subject to the Act. Of course, this determination is a question of fact to be determined by the circumstances of each case.

    Receivership or Bankruptcy
    A business has not gone defunct by reason only that its assets have been placed in the hands of a Trustee in Bankruptcy pursuant to the Bankruptcy Act, or that its assets have been placed in receivership. Provided the Trustee or Receiver is carrying on the operations with a view to disposing of the business as a going concern, or to reorganizing its affairs, it is still considered a “business”. However, where circumstances have degenerated to the extent that the business is incapable of being carried on or of being sold as a going concern, and the Trustee or Receiver takes steps to liquidate the assets on a piecemeal basis, it is no longer considered to be a “business” as defined in the Act and hence the acquisition of its control would not be subject to the Act.
    http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ica-lic.nsf/eng/lk…

  • PM_Guy

    They will not block this sale they will just ensure minimum Canadian Job losses (Job Guarantees) before they give Avaya the OK.

  • GoProto

    If anyone believes that this is more than just theatrics, I've got a few bridges I can sell you too..
    This is all a dog and pony show for the “peeples” .. Look, “We Care”. (and please re-elect us). Yeah right, then where were you in January? Where we you before Z and Co. turned to liquidate?

  • bankrupt_bob

    <<…the net benefit to Canada test…>>

    ….what about the “net benefit to stockholders test?” …we were “disbenefitted” much more than Canada could ever be…

  • yes4aapl

    HW and ZTE attack is coming!
    read
    Huawei's Lucky Number: 30B
    September 24, 2009 | Ray Le Maistre | Post a comment
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    7:15 AM — What is it with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and the number 30 billion?

    The company recently announced it is expecting the value of contract sales (not the same as revenues) in 2009 to total $30 billion. (See BBWF: Huawei's Big Year.)

    And now, according to this report from Marbridge Consulting, Huawei has just struck a deal to extend its line of credit with the China Development Bank to $30 billion, a significant advance from the $10 billion loan facility agreed in 2004. (See Huawei Wins $10B Credit Deal.)

    The same bank arranged a $15 billion line of credit with Huawei's local rival ZTE Corp. (Shenzhen: 000063; Hong Kong: 0763) in March this year. (See ZTE Secures $15B, Highlights R&D.)

    ZTE then added to that facility with a further $10 billion credit agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank). (See ZTE Bags Another $10B in Credit.)

    That gives the two Chinese vendors, between them, $55 billion in credit facilities for international expansion and business development. Scared yet?

    Maybe we'll find out how the duo intend to deploy those available funds at the upcoming ITU Telecom World 2009, where Huawei and ZTE are among the handful of telecom big hitters setting up camp on the show floor.
    ====
    re
    comments
    1. HW and ZTE rev for 2010 $30+15 Bill
    2. $55 bill in credits available for acquisitions and to finance customers
    3. These 2 together will be bigger than CSCO
    question
    How to turn things around? Anyone with the political background to answer?
    I hope they will run out of gas on the way of that uncontrolled expansion!

  • NortelTragedy

    Blah, blah, blah … rubber stamp “review” … it's too late. “That's all folks”, said Porky Pig.

  • scalppeeler

    Agreed.
    All it does is stall and delay the selloff of the rest.

  • zeroman

    stop outsourcing to China.

    stop manufacturing in China.

    stop buying stuff Made in China.

    where the the Chinese get 55 billion to fork up. from you.

    simple.

  • wasthere

    ''This Nortel deal will be reviewed'' . The toughest thing is to say it with a straight face but politicians are good actors !

  • scalppeeler

    Priorities in Canuckistan
    Natural Resource Mining.
    Oil extraction
    Car assemblers.
    Official Bilingualism
    Immigration
    Multiculturalism
    Refugee Importation and handouts to the same.
    Welfare
    Social assistance and subsidies
    Foreign Aid
    Hockey
    Tim Hortons
    Beer
    Tolerance
    Complacency

  • Teleguy

    Of course they're coming. The Chinese Gov't is their bank. Whatever money they need for expansion and takeovers, they'll get. No running out of gas when the Gov't is your cheque book.

  • Teleguy

    It's not just Canada; it's all the Western world businesses who have outsourced to China and India to save money and are shortly going to get an ass-kicking they will not believe as both of these countries grow and the businesses take over their companies on their own doorstep. In all honesty, I can't feel any sympathy for these idiots.

  • rubdab

    I've heard through the grapevine that the Avaya deal will be cancelled.
    Supposedly Ignattieff is taking over Enterprise as the new CEO, Manley will be the new BOD chairman, and Hacker's new role will be the sales contract enforcer.

  • Nortel_Employee_2009

    Political stunt…nothing will come out of it….remember the “mike z” hearing…nothing came out of it.

    Politicians are useless, cowards, have no ##ls to take on the corporate lawyers.

  • nortelex

    It's going to get much worse.

    Chinese/Indian labor is cheap. They are getting smarter, work twice as hard and save their money.

    Good luck North America

  • Notel_joe

    You forgot whineing (and doing nothing about it.

  • Notel_joe

    One out of three isn't bad. (Ignatieff hasn't YET proved himself incompetant)

  • exnt_x_2

    “I hope they will run out of gas on the way of that uncontrolled expansion!”

    Their expansion is just another bubble in a world of bubbles. And yet more over capacity in a world of capacity and no outlet.

    You're looking at regional proxy wars through Africa, the Caucuses and the 'Stans, along the underbelly of Russia and China in the next decade or so. Georgia's a case of it's own. And a world war's a fair bet in the next couple or so decades. Oil, water, food … it all comes down to resources.

    Globalization's over and the issue of outsourcing is moot, it's done are there are much larger issues coming at us, and more so at China and India. Give it 50 years for the geopolitics and wars to sort themselves out, then we can probably start looking realistically at the rise of the East. But there's a whole lot of depopulation to yet to do before we get there.

  • zeroman

    true. even if they spend, it is on local manufacturing. there was an argument to exploit these multi billion $ markets as consumers would buy american goods. alas. all the manufacturing moved their in the form of joint ventures. rules also prevent sucking out a lot of profit.

    they will take over everything. including resources. recent chinese moves to buy out mining, steel, lumber and oilsands assets in Canada.

    there is no way the west can match the east in terms of labor cost. labor costs are tied with quality of life and cost of living.

    simple examples: will McDonalds reduce its burger price from $3 to $0.5 or will the Gov of Canada tolerate 80% of its citizens not to file taxes or will sub-standard working conditions (even in tech 2 or 3 employees at a table) be okayed by labour laws? would customers be ok with third grade products and services from western companies?

    N E V E R

    yah 10 bucks an hour is do-able here too, just expect to match the quality of life, cost of living and levels of service too. which means the very companies outsourcing should drop their product prices. yesterday I could simply explain to a Bell rep and get things fixed. now I jhave to break my head on Steve from Banagaluru.

    maybe time for a protectionsit grassroots movement. boycott buying anything from india or china.

  • zeroman

    And the Americans know which side the butter is on now.

    PITTSBURGH — U.S. President Barack Obama opened the G20 leaders’ summit Thursday by calling for agreement on a framework to dramatically rebalance the global economy, hoping to shift the responsibility for prolonged economic recovery off the American consumers and the heavily indebted U.S. government.
    -
    Obama arrived in Pittsburgh seeking a consensus among G20 leaders for “sustainable and balanced growth” in the global economy that puts more onus for increased spending and consumption on nations such as China and Germany, which have huge trade surpluses. In particular, he wants China to expand its own social spending as a way to boost consumer demand for imported products.
    -
    “In the run-up to this crisis, many of the world’s largest economies depended on the American consumer to buy their exports to drive growth, and we made it easy. For too long, Americans were buying too much and saving too little. And that’s no longer an option for us, or for the rest of the world.”

  • scalppeeler

    That's the same as complacency

  • S_O_S_This_is_HMS_Nortel

    The Government appoined the BK judge. The judge approved the deal..are they going to overturn it ?

    This is just for show..nothing will come out of it.
    Stop wasting my tax dollars and let them go !

  • zeroman

    There is no Canada option. The other bidder was Siemens. There is no guarantee they will survive. They are not even in the top 4 or 5 in Enterprise.

    Politicians can only bicker amongst themseleves trying to get small points.

  • marina_dash

    Hi, as Nortel Partnet I am sorry to say that all made steps down sales to zero. And while processes of sales or sales cancelation are prosessed Nortel dissapeardsby itself.
    Almost 15 years history of Nortel in Russia is ended today when all enterprise presales were cut!

  • free_agent

    More exactly, we are going into a “vicious industry shakeout”. The company with the lowest costs for its fundamental processes (manufacturing, service, engineering) is the most likely to survive.

  • exnt_x_2

    Nationalism's coming into play in a way no one of us has seen before, those not having gone through the 30's and 40's. It's not so much tariffs now as national bailouts at the expense of other countries' industries. Finance, banking and the auto industry are the beginning. Each take cares of its own first.

    How much public financing is used to offset uncompetitive costs is going to be important in who survives. This probably means that everyone anointed survives, much like Japan through the '90's. Zombies.

  • MyHeadHurts

    Nortel has very little real enterprise presence in Canada. I know saying that will offend the Belleville folks, but, the only reason Belleville even exists is Nortel gets (or whomever purchases Enterprise) tax credits for development in “rural” areas. If it was not for the tax credit, it would have been transferred to Toronto or Ottawa a long time ago.

    I do not understand the “net benefit to Canada”, since much of the IP in Enterprise was US based. If anything they should object to CVAS and the carrier business since its home is really in Canada.

    Pre-election posturing. Typical.

  • protosphere

    There is one rule for Nortel to do what ever it wants it seems and a different rules for everyone else.

    The OSC claimed it did not want to hurt the firm and did not impose any penalty for the largest fraud in Canada. Yet, they fined RIM tens of millions in a precedent amount for options backdating.

    Nortel is growing and a flagship Canadian tech giant now as Nortel killed investors and the economy while the corrupt OSC's business prevention department reluctant to put pals in jail fined them nothing, if Manley defending Dunn isn't enough for ya.

    Fast forward after RIM already signed non disclosures and were ready to announce a deal that was almost a multiple of the stalking horse agreement, they were double-crossed by Nortel too. Under bankruptcy protection laws, double-crossed like their employees. In favor of big business creditors to maximize bonus driven value for these already discredited tyrants.

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/r…

    RIM cries foul over Nortel auction
    Research In Motion Ltd. is alleging that Nortel Networks Corp. shut it out of the bidding for the distressed telecom giant's nationally sensitive wireless assets.
    RIM has found itself blocked at every turn
    RIM is prepared to bid in the area of $1.1-billion (U.S.) for the wireless and other assets.
    RIM said in its statement it sought to be qualified as a qualified bidder in Nortel's auction for the wireless business, but was told it could be qualified only if it pledged not to submit offers for other Nortel assets for a year. “In seeking to impose this condition, Nortel and its advisers were fully aware of RIM's desire to purchase other Nortel assets as part of a solution to retain key portions of Nortel's business under Canadian ownership,” RIM said.
    RIM said it believes its offer would result in an extremely attractive price for Nortel creditors and value substantially in excess of the so-called stalking horse bid by Nokia Siemens.
    It also pointed out that the Nokia Siemens bid was being supported by a $300-million loan from Canada's own Export Development Corp.
    “Despite repeated efforts, Nortel, its advisers and its court-appointed monitor have rejected RIM's repeated attempts to engage in meaningful discussions.”

    http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/670404

    Nortel's discredited management is playing the same game. It wants to dump the wireless division but keep many of the most valuable patents, and become a patent-licensing firm – less politely, a patent troll – after letting Nokia Siemens take the wireless division and its costly infrastructure of high-cost engineers and R&D centres off its hands.
    So here's the decision for Ottawa.
    Do we let either of the European or U.S. bidders for Nortel's wireless division prevail with the formal bids they have made through an approved bankruptcy process from which RIM alleges it has been frozen out? Or does Ottawa somehow force Nortel to pass the torch of its 127-year-old legacy as Canada's technology champion to another Canadian firm?

    http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/08/10/rim-…

    Research in Motion Inc. was interested in buying Nortel Networks Corp.'s Long Term Evolution patents months before Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January.
    Lazaridis said RIM “came very close to completing” discussions to buy LTE patents before January.
    “We were surprise by the bankruptcy announcement” but continued working with Nortel and “expanded the scope” of the purchase, he said.
    “We were so close to announcing a few days after we thought we had a handshake,” he said. “We were exchanging e-mails about a press release within a matter of days.”
    After Nokia Siemens Networks presented its bid, Waterloo, Ont.-based RIM complained it was effectively shut out of the auction process, and called on the federal government to review the sale.
    “When we felt we had an agreement,” he said. “That's when we were informed (Nortel was) pursuing other agreements with other companies.”

    http://press.rim.com/release.jsp?id=2435

    RIM Prevented from Bidding for Nortel's Assets as a Result of Nortel's Actions
    “RIM is extremely disappointed that Nortel's world leading technology, the development of which has been funded in part by Canadian taxpayers, seems destined to leave Canada and that Canada’s own Export Development Corporation is preparing to help by lending $300 million to another bidder. RIM remains extremely interested in acquiring Nortel assets through a Canadian ownership solution that would serve the dual purpose of keeping key wireless technologies in Canada and extending RIM’s leadership in the research, development and distribution of leading edge wireless solutions, but RIM has found itself blocked at every turn.”

  • Meridian

    CS1K, IP clients, and BCM are all R&D centered in Canada split evenly between Ottawa and Belleville. Belleville does not get “rural tax credits” as you suggest. It may be a small place, but we do have a Starbucks and 8 Tim Hortons (smile).

    Nortel has not been able to effectively use its Canadian R&D tax credits effectively for many years. You can only offset R&D tax credits against positive revenue within Canada. We use to transfer these credits to parent Bell Canada who could use them – no longer… they are just sitting there now on the balance sheet.

    I do agree the Avaya review is just posturing as there are not many other viable alternatives.

    I do think the govt should be stepping up on the underfunded pension situation – that is the real story in all of this.

  • yes4aapl

    Sorry my friend to blow your bubble about Rimm
    Rimm is the same.
    At one point I cried fault play and Rimm did it publicly.
    but the truth is
    Rimm is built on the same principles_culture as Nortel.
    I see no difference!
    Let me ask you
    Does making BackBeries entitle them to have $100 bill in the market cap?
    I don't think so!
    Did you know that building the longest bridge in Japan_Kobe cost only 2Bill?
    Have you checked Apple.com lately?
    It's amazing!
    Yes4aapl

  • bankrupt_bob

    Nortel® – Official Site
    Reliable Info • 100% Transparent. Visit the Official Site Now!
    Ads by Google

    (anybody else find this humorous?)

  • protosphere

    Can we add Apple to culture of corporate greed and deceit my friend?
    Is it any more justified than Apple's $163B Market cap? I dunno.

    Apple was also fined less for options backdating for a period covering a multiple of years greater than RIMs. RIM received a multiple of Apple's fine in a precedent $75M so the toothless OSC could be seen doing something. OSC opportunistically targeted RIM. My point was how Nortel was favored over RIM by their friends at the OSC too.

    http://www.canadianbusiness.com/columnists/tom_…

    “RIM has been proactive and really gotten out front of this thing,” applauds Research Capital Corp.'s Nick Agostino, who says RIM's problems appear to result from a failure in technical accounting, not cooked books.

    (Apple has restated a decade's worth of financial statements to account for the misuse of options.)

    http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9003879/…

    Apple: Steve Jobs knew of stock option backdating

    http://www.tuaw.com/2008/09/10/apple-settles-op…
    Apple settles options backdating lawsuit
    Insurers representing Jobs and Apple's board will pay Apple, Inc. $14 million, which tidily covers almost $9 million in attorney's fees and expenses.
    The executives settled with Apple and its shareholders, offering the $14 million in exchange for dropping the suit. The money comes from the insurance companies, as the executives had policies in place to cover them in case they had to pay up. Got all that? There's a test at the end.

  • protosphere

    Hysterical.

    The have always presented their financials like a happy talk sales flyer making the bad news hard to find (they delayed repairing numbers so long that even their pals at the SEC had to step in, let alone listing tax credits as their largest asset so long on books they sought to clean) …like the rest of their hype, 3 to 5 year turnaround, $20 buying opportunity, it will be a great company again, or they could even manage a larger one… hysterical

    When downplaying restating a restated restatement, to restate Q205 triple profits for this period after fraud year, they never did stop deferring money from periods no longer needed into periods they did. There was always happy talk paired with bad news by these green guys not at the crime scene but acting exponentially worse, like the tanked settlement shares to these downplayed revisions they called “mark-to-market” profit!

    Transparent like the endless Flextronics amendments after selling manufacturing.

    No mention of Manley's law firm defending Dunn there either.

    …it was endless… to be seen to be believed

  • protosphere

    I think the greatest investment North Americans make is in cars not houses. People purchase many cars throughout the period od owning a home.

    What can we do? Become protectionist against Japanese imports?

    Reneg on the sale of Canadian assets for the 407 after it is seen to be profitable?

    If we get protectionist about selling assets to foreigners, they may get protectionist about importing ours… and china is a huge player when it comes to buying our abundance of natural resources.

    What to do? Answer is as simple as fixing our health care funding than legalizing our casinos or implementing airline security to rival Isreal's that would have prevented 911. Naive? I do not think so. I call it stupid. Lets hope we are at least learning from decisions in an error factor that disproportionately catalyzes with a bureaucracy's size. =)

  • protosphere

    Japan too. We are debt ridden with a better standard of living but each Japanese man woman and child is born with a few hundred thousand dollar surplus than at least the 15K per person debt here. =)

  • protosphere

    “A business has not gone defunct by reason only that its assets have been placed in the hands of a Trustee in Bankruptcy pursuant to the Bankruptcy Act,”

    This is where the slippery weasel's lawyers circumvent the intent of the law by liquidating under chapter 11 when acting exactly like Chapter 7, as they, or a court appointed monitor in this case (full of conflicts of interest) is acting just as a trustee would under chapter 7 as they remain in Ch. 11 ONLY for their benefit. Could they issue bonuses under chapter 7? Trade options for cash again? Or pay the remaining board members more? Increase Insurance coverage or pay these premiums before creditors like their legal fees.

    Heck, they even used the letter of the law to circumvent severances and there was no mandatory stop or safeguard to protect pensions.

    If there is a loophole to be found, their army of layers will find it, right down to telling them to look it up when asked to define terms before a government inquiry than anxious to attend (only to liquidate the very following day as they get sued for misleading like charging Capone for tax evasion).

  • protosphere

    Judge Gross must be at his wits end. One one hand the creditors are screaming for money after bankruptcy protection circumvents them while Nortel says they are trying tio get as much as they can for rapidly depreciating assets.

    Is it any wonder this judge did back-flips in delight when the Ericsson deal was announced? “Gleeful” to move on in this ugly process of liquidating as Nortel's court appointed monitors work to appease creditors interests but certainly not neglecting Nortel's management by the looks of things by approving bonuses. raises, insurance coverage, trading options, circumventing severances, etc…

    Legal acrobats at their finest.

  • rlsmeridian

    I typed this comment on a different article, but it's more fitting for this posting. Hope to get some feedback from other Nortel fans! Here it is:

    Interesting that no one mentions that Nortel telephone sets are much better and user friendly than Avaya sets. It's a personal opinion, but compare a Nortel 1140E with an Avaya IP set, and while the Avaya telephone set looks modern and with its tone on tone grey, it lacks the color coded keys, the unique Nortel key click when dialing a number, changable ring tones that Nortel is known for, a call waiting Buzz, easy feature key programing, etc….I could go on and on. It's a sad day when these industry standard 1120/40E, M3900, T7316 sets, even older M2000 and M7000 are eliminated from the millions of desks around the world. Gone will be the RLS button, which was GREAT in retail store training manuals in regards to making paging annoucements. Here at Walgreens, our training manual trains everyone how to press the RLS key after making an annoucement so the hang up sound is not heard over the store speakers. It's not just Walgreens, all TJX stores, Borders Books, HBC in Canada, Safeways stores, Supervalu Jewel Osco stores, and many, many other retailers and other organizations that have used Nortel as industry standard telephones, will now be disrupted by Avaya, who intends to phase out all Nortel telephones for their own telephones.

    It's a sad, sad day in the telecom world! Luckily I bought a Nortel BCM 50 in February for my loft in Chicago, yeah I am a telephone geek, I collect old Western Electric and Northern Electric telephones from the past….including a very interesting red rotary WE set from 1962. I actually live in a building that was the first Western Electric plant in Chicago in the early 1900's. Kind of ironic that Western Electric's future company AT&T technologies, which then became Lucent, and now Avaya, is now taking over the one company in the world that produced some of the most beautiful, well designed telephones in the world, and will replace them with their own equipment….. I am sure Avaya will come knocking soon and try to get me to switch over to their IP system, no way in HELL, will I be switching to their equipment!

  • rlsmeridian

    FYI, I am all for having Nortel Enterprise in Canada, I am an American….and our original legacy AT&T, Lucent, Avaya sets pale in comparison and technology to the Canadian designed Nortel SL-1, Meridian 1, Option, Norstar, BCM, CS1000/CS2100 platforms.

  • correne

    In my honest opinion the Belleville site needs to be shut down, its employees are tired and lazy, you can never get a clear answer, the folks running the show in Belleville are plm.. not a design director. The 1K is a mess due to the belleville mis-management. Avaya needs to shut down the site and move the work to Ottawa. Smarter, cheaper and reliable vs. Belleville talent.

  • scalppeeler

    If the gov't won't review what you see below how in gods name could you ever expect them to do anything for the people who have worked for generations and paid taxes.
    It is a conspiracy in Canada at the federal and provincial levels.
    Speak up and act before it is too late.

    “Note the solution to the problem would be for the provincial and federal government to increase funding to social housing. This wouldn't be necessary if Canada didn't import poverty on a yearly basis in the first place. Take any social housing community at random in the city of Toronto and read the directory of names and observe who lives there. If there is a shortage of social and affordable housing it is because Canada caused it by bringing in too many people, more than the country needs.
    Taking landed immigrants, refugees, and temporary foreign workers as a whole Canada imports close to half a million people each year. Is now a good time to be introducing so many people into Canada's labour market? Is there really enough good paying jobs for these people? Do they even have the skills to perform them? How can we fight poverty if any gains made is negated by succeeding waves of immigrants?
    You cannot protect Canada's poor without addressing mass immigration. If we are serious about eradicating poverty in Canada then we need to challenge Canada's immigrant intake numbers. You cannot cure an illness without treating its causes and right now in Ottawa there is no political will to lower immigration targets even in the current uncertain economic climate.
    These stories are becoming disconcertingly common in Canada. Not so common to raise alarm bells but common enough to make one wonder who is guarding our borders. An HIV+ African male and alleged “refugee” enters Canada and then spreads the virus here by infecting a Canadian citizen, sometimes more.
    Their behaviour here, these alleged “refugees”, raises red flags over their persecution claims. What kind of refugee behaves that way? Real refugees, those actually fleeing persecution and death, would be grateful to the host country and its citizens for providing asylum, being humble and law-abiding as an outward expression of thanks. At least that is what I assume. But this appears to be the exception nowadays where a sense of entitlement rules instead of gratitude.
    Belligerence or criminality or a grandiose sense of entitlement manifesting itself in a display of varying degrees of disrespect for the host population are tell tale signs that these people are bogus. Sadly I feel that this characterizes too many of the so-called “refugees” that come to Canada. Many arrive as inland refugees and willingly lie to the government, and thus the people, and consciously commit an act of deceit to fraudulently obtain Canadian citizenship. What does it say about these people? What kind of citizens do you think they are going to be? Do they even deserve to be citizens?
    What makes the linked story more heinous is that the “refugee” raped his girlfriend. Twice. Once by threatening her with a power drill to her head. And he knew he was HIV+. And so did the government but to its defense it did not know until after a test was administered, and not until after the man arrived in Canada and made a refugee claim. Should Canada be accepting anyone who is HIV+ at all? Why is Canada allowing the importation of an incurable disease that carries a death sentence and a hefty health care bill? This puts the health of its citizens at risk. It's absurd.
    In case you're wondering the victim, a woman in her 50s, has tested positive for the virus. Her life has been ruined because Canada needs to fill a refugee intake quota and it appears anyone will do. But if the man wasn't allowed out on bail for a first degree murder charge (he killed a 20 year old woman and stuffed her body in a garbage in 2006) then Canada would have only destroyed one person's life due to a refugee system made a joke, inept, by politics and self interest.”.

  • despair

    LOL….

    You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. The Belleville site has a signficantly lower loaded labour rate then any other Nortel Site (including Ottawa) other then China and India.

    Run by PLM? Like running your business by listening to the PLM is nuts? We should listen to some director with no business knowledge? (and I am R&D).

    The CS1K has been run into the ground the same way Nortel did it to every key product.. they wouldn't fund it. Its return on investment is one of the best in the company and is profitable.

    We will see what happens, but lots of people in Belleville have already gotten letters of intent from Avaya to keep them…

  • Meridian

    I'm sorry you feel the way you do about Belleville correne – you seem bitter about something. Fortunately we are quite please to see Avaya does not feel the same way.

  • despair

    LOL….

    You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. The Belleville site has a signficantly lower loaded labour rate then any other Nortel Site (including Ottawa) other then China and India.

    Run by PLM? Like running your business by listening to the PLM is nuts? We should listen to some director with no business knowledge? (and I am R&D).

    The CS1K has been run into the ground the same way Nortel did it to every key product.. they wouldn't fund it. Its return on investment is one of the best in the company and is profitable.

    We will see what happens, but lots of people in Belleville have already gotten letters of intent from Avaya to keep them…

  • Meridian

    I'm sorry you feel the way you do about Belleville correne – you seem bitter about something. Fortunately we are quite pleased to see Avaya does not feel the same way.

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