We have an extensive Nortel data network, in addition to the Nortel voice network. I don’t believe Avaya has an extensive data portfolio, so if the sale ends of going through, they now have an extensive data portfolio, with a foothold in high-reliability market segments, healthcare and education. They immediately can provide an end-to-end solution for their voice side.

” I’ve hitched my ride for the last 10 years to Nortel telephony gear. It won’t quit running tomorrow. But I have to know where I go from here. Spend lots of $$$ to upgrade and find out next year its all EOL?”

I feel your pain, as we are in the same boat. In fact, we are getting to purchase some SRGs.

We just upgraded our PBX and VM system last year and also last year made a major upgrade to replace ES 8100s with ERS 4500s, etc. I believe our network is fairly resilient and redundant. Unless our company is going to replace all that hardware (and at considerable expense I might add), my position is that we will continue to run our existing Nortel hardware even if it is EOLd. There is a considerable secondary market of Nortel hardware and I would expect that market to grow.

I’ve already had calls from Cisco and Enterasys about having them come in to discuss their solutions. I told them both no thanks. I’ll say the same to Avaya unless they come to discuss *Nortel* solutions. There’s no way I could go to my company and suggest they replace existing Nortel hardware with Avaya hardware. That’s simply not a viable solution. New for the sake of new is not a good business model in my book. What we have works and works well. I’d need a very compelling reason to move away from a working network solution.

I guess it comes down to “What can I, as an end customer, do?” I’ve hitched my ride for the last 10 years to Nortel telephony gear. It won’t quit running tomorrow. But I have to know where I go from here. Spend lots of $$$ to upgrade and find out next year its all EOL?

In short yes. Nortel’s Enterprise division is composed of their voice and data products and solutions.

Thanks for the comment!