F5 attempts to lure Nortel Alteon customers

Offer comes in wake of Nortel Chapter 11 filing

F5 Networks this week became the latest vendor to target customers of bankrupt Nortel by offering a buyback program for the company's application switches.

F5 joins Enterasys Networks, Extreme Networks and reportedly Juniper in enticing Nortel customers and resellers to trade in their loyalties for a more stable partner. Enterasys is offering Nortel and other competitors' customers a 100% credit on their equipment.

Extreme's program "grandfathers" Nortel channel partners into a comparable level in the Extreme channel partner program. For example, if a Premier Advantage partner in the Nortel program wants to join the Extreme partner program, the partner would be conditionally accepted into a similar Extreme level.

F5's program is aimed at customers and resellers of Nortel's Alteon application switches. The company is offering trade-in credits toward replacement, as well as customized consulting services to aid in the migration from the Alteon systems to F5's BIG-IP Application Delivery Controllers.

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F5 Networks this week became the latest vendor to target customers of bankrupt Nortel by offering a buyback program for the company's application switches.

F5 joins Enterasys Networks, Extreme Networks and reportedly Juniper in enticing Nortel customers and resellers to trade in their loyalties for a more stable partner. Enterasys is offering Nortel and other competitors' customers a 100% credit on their equipment.

Extreme's program "grandfathers" Nortel channel partners into a comparable level in the Extreme channel partner program. For example, if a Premier Advantage partner in the Nortel program wants to join the Extreme partner program, the partner would be conditionally accepted into a similar Extreme level.

F5's program is aimed at customers and resellers of Nortel's Alteon application switches. The company is offering trade-in credits toward replacement, as well as customized consulting services to aid in the migration from the Alteon systems to F5's BIG-IP Application Delivery Controllers.

Specifically, customers can trade in select Nortel Alteon products to purchase an F5 BIG-IP solution and get as much as $9,000 in trade-in credits, F5 says.

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