Nortel partners might be a hot commodity

Nortel partners who haven’t already started hedging their bets might want to do so now.  While announcing that it had sold its wireless carrier infrastructure division at a bargain basement price today, Nortel also admitted that it will sell off its remaining assets.

Nortel competitors, such as Avaya, have been aggressively recruiting Nortel partners in recent months. You can expect that recruitment to ratchet up, especially if one of Nortel’s competitors acquires a Nortel business unit. After all, who knows Nortel’s customers better than its partners?

Also, if someone like Avaya or Siemens-Enterasys buys Nortel’s enterprise division, the buyer will certainly have plans to move those customers onto its own products sooner or later. That vendor will want channel partners who are familiar with its own products and Nortel’s products. Such expertise will be valuable as vendors look to help enterprises transition away from Nortel to their own products.