TechIQ’s The VAR Guy is blogging that Nortel is following Cisco into the SMB ring with a unified communications pitch named “My Business” that’s targeted at small and midsize businesses. Nortel is expected to launch the program on April 16, following Cisco’s April 3 launch of unified communications gear for the same market.
My Business is expected to include the Smart Business Communications System, and the Select Certification for SMB channel partners.
The VAR Guy writes: “Some skeptics left Nortel for dead in recent years. Accounting scandals, earnings restatements and four rounds of layoffs tend to wear on you, ya know. But The VAR Guy thinks Nortel is worth watching again, partly because of the unified communications partnership with Microsoft. It’s not a perfect relationship, but it potentially gives Nortel access to Microsoft’s vast network of integrators and VARs.
“The big question: Will Microsoft partners recommend Nortel’s networking gear rather than Cisco’s?”
