Part of it has to do with the fact the amount of news coming out of Nortel has dropped considerably, which is understandable given there aren’t many assets left in the portfolio.

As well, my digital marketing and social media consulting business, ME Consulting, has been extremely busy, which hasn’t left a lot of time for AAN.

After 1,622 posts, AAN – like Nortel – is nearing the end of its active life. I’ll probably do blog posts when there is big or interesting news, and AAN will continue to stay alive to serve as an archive for anyone interested in the sad decline of Canada’s flagship technology company.

It has been an amazing and fascinating run – one that I never envisioned happened when I decided to see if I could blog about a single company. Along the way, hundreds of employees, analysts, investors and interested parties have been extremely helpful so I would like offer everyone a huge “Thank You!”.

If you’re interested in some of the other things I’m doing within the blogosphere, here are a few places to get a fix:

- Mark Evans Tech, which covers everything from Google and Web 2.0 to Skype and Facebook
- Twitterrati, a blog devoted to Twitter
- Sysomos, a blog for Sysomos Inc., a social media monitoring company where I’m director of communications.

If you’re ever in need of digital marketing and social media strategy and tactics, ME Consulting offers a variety of services.

Although disappointing, the rapid and troubling gutting of Nortel has left me no choice but to consider strategic options for AAN’s future and its single shareholder/creditor (aka me). At best, AAN may have six to nine months to live until Nortel runs out of cash and/or sells all its assets so it can give creditors their dough.

As a result, I’ve decided to follow Mike Z.’s lead, and slowly and methodically sell off parts of AAN even though the longer I wait, the more “value” AAN loses. Heck, I figure if this conservative approach worked for Nortel, it will work just fine for AAN.

First, I’m going to sell the comments – all 19,548 of them.

While an important asset, they likely have some value to somebody looking for a wide variety of insightful and, well, entertaining content. While it makes no sense to publicly announce the comments are for sale as opposed to waiting until a sale has been completed, I’m taking the same route Nortel took for its Metro Ethernet network and LG-Nortel businesses – announce now, worry about selling later.

While I’m at it, AAN’s blogroll, categories and RSS subscribers are also on the block. I’ll consider all offers, especially “stalking horse” bids – like the one Nokia Siemens made for Nortel’s CDMA business and LTE R&D unit – in which you get an offer and then cross your fingers that a higher bid magically comes along.

When the restructuring of AAN is completed, AAN will emerge from blog-ruptcy as a viable business based on the strength of its blog post. In a competitive landscape, shedding non-core assets, outsourcing Web hosting to a lower-cost market, and downgrading to dial-up Internet access will make AAN a more efficient and competitive entity.

Then again, I may just hold a Nortel-like firesale. Given Mike Z. is killing Nortel and, along with it AAN, I may have to take what I can get!

(On a serious note, people have asked how long I continue to write AAN. Truth be told, I’ll keep going until the bitter end. It’s a sad, disappointing, alarming and fascinating story about a company that has crumbled in less than a decade. While it’s a bit like watching the Titanic hit the ice berg and sink, it’s still, nevertheless, interesting.)

Technorati Tags: mike zafirovski, nortel

Technorati Tags: john roese, nortel

Written by Wilson Korol, Greenroots is “devoted to all things green with respect to our company and industry”. The fact Nortel launched a “green” blog is not surprising given how green has played a key role in Nortel’s marketing efforts.

“Greenroots is not going to be just about touting green excellence in those areas we are doing well” Korol wrote. “It is also going to provide as transparent a window as possible into our continually green journey. Obviously, this is a perpetual journey, as we are always looking to use resources more effectively, thereby reducing costs, consumption and waste while delivering ever improving customer service. If you have ideas about how Nortel could be a greener company, please let me know.”

Nortel now has four blogs, including Phil Edholm’s Enterprise Technology blog, which hasn’t been updated since Jan. 20, and the Voice Security Blog. Nortel may want to take down John Roese’s blog given he was dismissed last November, and Nortel no longer has a CTO.

Say what you will about Nortel’s management team, financial performance and strategic focus but its social media efforts, led by Bo Gowan, have been a silver lining in an otherwise bleak picture.

Technorati Tags: blogs, bo gowan

On the list of what could have been is a proposed joint venture between Nortel and Huawei in early-2005 that would have seen the JV develop a router portfolio to take on Cisco. It was going to be a Canadian router price at 30% below Cisco with comparable features and performance.

Unfortunately, the proposed JV disintegrated after the two Garys – Gary Daichendt and Gary Kunis – resigned. Nortel walked away from the deal, which was expected to generate $1.1-billion of new sales for Nortel over the first 12 months.

Here’s the complete PowerPoint presentation: nortel-huawei-jv1

Technorati Tags: huawei, Nortel

The gap happens because Disqus, the comment system used by AAN, immediately counts every comment made. However, the comments don’t appear until I’ve approved them. I’ve been moderating comments for several months to inject a modicum of respect after things began to get out of hand.

As you can imagine, the comments have been flying fast and furious this week so it’s been difficult, at times, to keep up.

Thanks for your patience.

Technorati Tags: comments, disqus, Nortel

It may explain why you see a box upon visiting AAN that asks for your Twitter user name and password. DO NOT provide any information. Instead, click “cancel”.

I’m trying to figure out what’s happening.

Update: I think I discovered the problem. It was a Twitter plug-in that I’ve removed. If you still see the Twitter box, let me know.

Technorati Tags: phishing, twitter

Dominic Jones, who writes for IR Web Report, took a look at the corporation blogging landscape, and came up with a post highlighting two examples of companies that get blogging: Nortel and eBay.

It quotes Bo Gowan, who has done a terrific job leading Nortel’s social media efforts. As well, I’ve quoted on Nortel.

For more thoughts on corporate blogs, check out ReadWriteWeb.

Technorati Tags: ebay, Nortel

That said, I’m not particularly overwhelmed with the tone, civility or insight of some commenters. To be honest, I think they take away from the conversation as opposed to adding to it.

So, something has to change. The options range from the extreme – turning off comments altogether or banning people whose comments are seen as un-constructive and/or inflammatory – to something more pragmatic – requiring everyone to register with Disqus.

I’ve attempted to cajole people to be more civil but that didn’t work so well.

Until I figure out what to do, I’m going to moderate every comment. It’s a lot of work but a necessary evil. If you make a comment that I think doesn’t add to the conversation, do not be surprised if it doesn’t appear.

So consider this a polite shot across the bow.

Technorati Tags: comments

Given Buzzboard uses WordPress, it makes you wonder if Nortel is dumping WordPress, which has become the world’s most popular blogging platform.

If so, it’s an interesting move.

So, what’s the scoop, Bo Gowan?

Technorati Tags: blogs, Nortel