The state of worldwide telecommunications mammoth, Nortel, is once again in the air. On January 12, 2009, Nortel announced a revamp of its enterprise Ethernet switching line, advocating high-class features at a remarkably low price point. Meanwhile, news of an upcoming $107 million interest payment plunges Nortel shares. 5600 Series Ethernet Switches Introduced:
“This is more than a new line of stackable switches for traditional deployments. Given the performance and resiliency they bring to the data center environment, this new line offers enterprises flexibility at a very aggressive price point,” said Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president, Yankee Group. “This bolsters Nortel’s unified communications solution portfolio, but more importantly, it demonstrates that Nortel is moving forward in designing new products that represent strong offerings and commitment to the enterprise market.” (Nortel’s January 12th Press Release) The new 5600 line of switches includes models that span all environments, from the data center to the edge. Simply put, is this a last-ditch effort to revamp Nortel’s position in its enterprise markets? The company’s stock price has been extremely variable within the last few weeks as well, confirming investor insecurity and uncertainty as to the future of the company’s financial health. Nortel continues to pump out press releases and case studies of new customer projects, ventures, and development. As mentioned, there is much written skepticism of the corporation, typically found on the Internet blogosphere. Mark Evans’ “All About Nortel” blog has been charting the ups-and-downs of the company, including the rumors of filing for bankruptcy protection, potential bids for Nortel’s Metro Ethernet division, and other Nortel-centric analysis. What’s to come remains uncertain: In other news to note, Nortel’s $107 million interest payment comes due this week Thursday, according to a Reuters UK article. There is great skepticism in the markets as to whether or not Nortel will make the payment. Ahead of this news, Nortel’s stock price had dropped .10, or nearly 24% during the day on Tuesday. The news on Nortel will continue to be an interesting topic. We’ll cover more news on the company’s health as it becomes available. What do you think? Will Nortel’s reinvigoration into the enterprise Ethernet switching market help the company survive? Or, is it too little, too late?
