Lucent lining up IP ducks

True to its word, Lucent is eyeing partnerships to fill out its IP/MPLS portfolio, following last fall’s cancellation of its own core packet switch.

Lucent lining up IP partnerships

True to its word, Lucent is eyeing partnerships to fill out its IP/MPLS portfolio, following last fall’s cancellation of its own core packet switch. Sources say the telco equipment maker is hammering out a pact to market Juniper’s routers for wireline applications and is considering a similar engagement with Cisco for wireless. Why with both instead of one? Lucent views Cisco as a wireline threat while Juniper has a joint development pact with Lucent’s wireless rival Ericsson. Lucent can also upsell its professional services through two channels instead of one. Lucent stated its intentions to partner on IP/MPLS after killing the TMX 880 MPLS multiservice switch in October as part of a product rationalization.

Cisco recalls Catalyst 4500 fan trays

Cisco has issued a recall on the fan trays of the new Catalyst 4500 LAN switch, which is used by networks operators and service providers to offer aggregation of business services and subscriber access in metro networks. The fan trays can short circuit, causing them to freeze and fail, and potentially damaging the Catalyst 4500 backplane. The recall affects about 3,000 switches shipped since Cisco announced the product in September. Cisco says it discovered the problem internally rather than hearing about it through an impacted customer.

Start-ups succumb to carrier spending freeze

Convincing service providers to change out their circuit networks for packets is a tough sell even in the best of times. But now we’re skimming along the bottom of the almost three-year slump.

The market for next-generation networking gear in 2002 turned into a combination of consolidation and siege.