Even before the Avaya acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions (ES) and Federal Systems group is finalized, Joel Hackney, President, Nortel ES, has taken a position with Avaya as Senior Vice President, U.S. Federal Government market organization. The Nortel Federal operation is larger in size and scope than Avaya's, so it makes perfectly good sense to retain Hackney's services.Hackney is currently based at Nortel's large RTP facility in North Carolina, where he was the last Nortel ES high level executive still in residence. How many of the almost 1,600 remaining Nortel ES employees in RTP will become part of the new Avaya organization remains to be seen. It appears that that my primary Nortel ES personal contacts as a consultant and analyst will be part of the new organization next year, but I am sure many other contacts of mine of long standing in the marketing and product organizations may not survive the transition. Some may wind up with other competitors, in which case our paths will continue to cross, though many may fade from my memory as the weeks and months pass. I wish the latter group well in their future career paths.
