No, this isn't another article based on social networking buzz that an announcement about the distribution of Nortel assets is imminent. But in this quiet period before those seemingly inevitable decisions are made public, the words to this song having been running through my head, and seem to sum up what's happening:The party's over It's time to call it a day They've burst your pretty balloon And taken the moon away.
One interpretation of the "they" here could be the bankruptcy courts. A recent article in the Canadian press notes that members of the Nortel board have been surprised by the sheer brutal complexity of the bankruptcy process.
Another interpretation is that Cisco burst Nortel's pretty balloon. I'm reminded that Nortel made its way into the US market in the mid-1980s during a technology shift similar to the current TDM to IP shift, the earlier one being from analog to digital switching. Nortel managed to capture a significant share of both the burgeoning PBX and the central office switch markets from then-incumbent AT&T. It seems like divine justice; Nortel took the market from AT&T and now someone has taken it away from them.
The difference here may be that Cisco may have fought dirtier than Nortel did. The employee ranks of Cisco are strewn with people who learned the business from Nortel, from the very top executive leading the Voice Technology Group to marketing managers and individual sales people. They not only knew the business, they knew where the business was, i.e., they had existing relationships with the distribution partners that were Nortel's life blood.
Did Cisco help hasten the demise of Nortel by raiding its ranks or did Nortel lose its edge when top talent decided to jump ship for a more exciting, and admittedly lucrative, environment? It's certainly a little of both.
Last weekend, I spent some time with friends in the San Jose area. All were former Nortel, there when Nortel was at its best in the 1990s. Some are now at Cisco, integral parts of the team that has made Cisco number one in enterprise telephony. While the party is almost over for Nortel, many of the best people left there years ago.
