TheInfoPro

03 December 2009 – Bill Trussell, Managing Director of Security and Networking Research and Advisory – It would appear that the Nortel Enterprise business unit acquisition by Avaya is headed for closing this month, though questions remain as to the impact that this will have on the the enterprise customer. Most industry observers are recommending that enterprise customers wait out the acquisition and subsequent integration period before making any rash decisions on product adoption or abandonment. Data suggests, however, that this recommendation is not being observed by many enterprises as both Cisco and Microsoft are gaining consideration to supply IP voice infrastructure to both large and small enterprises.

The biggest question for the industry to consider is whether this acquisition was being made as one to spur growth or merely as an exit strategy for the private equity investors of Avaya. While a successful exit can seldom be accomplished without some indication of profitability ,the acquisition of Nortel by Avaya offers the opportunity to cut costs dramatically – and with a short focal length – in order to secure a pathway out for the equity owners. Such a strategy may very well lead current and newly acquired customers of the Nortel products down a dark path of not knowing whether the product just acquired will continue to be supported in good faith. If the acquisition is truly intended to spawn growth for Avaya, then they can ill afford to lose any customers for any reason. But our data indicates that this does not appear to be the case thus far as Nortel customers tell us they are looking to leave in favor of competing products from other providers. For that matter, Avaya does not have a good track record recently other than for their largest legacy systems which are not easily replaced.

As a result of this uncertainty, caution is likely the best enterprise strategy at this point.

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14 September 2009 – This past week we heard that Avaya solidified its bid to acquire the enterprise business from Nortel by winning the bidding process at $900M, having started the process at somewhere north of $400M.  Their intent is to  try to solidify an otherwise weak position as a provider of Unified Communications solutions among other emerging enterprise solutions.  This marks the end of a strong innovation story for Nortel as they have been a key player in the business telephony marketplace for many years.  Does it appear that this acquisition is a good idea?   From our Wave 5 Networking results we noted that Avaya trails Nortel, Microsoft and Cisco among both in use and in plan citations for UC.  Additionally, Nortel still leads Avaya among in plan mentions.  Ratings for Avaya among Wave 5 participants show above average results for product performance, features and functionality but weak results for expressions of value.  Users rating Avaya indicated that they are not easy to do business with and ranked lower among their peers for supporting their products and their strategic vision.  The combination looks no better in our Wave 6 results. Industry publications speculate that Avaya would own 25% market share for IP telephony but data from TIP interviews indicate that this position may be overstated and would not transfer to the UC solutions, which is the next step in the telephony product evolution.

With Avaya not being the highest rated provider among TIP interviewees it would seem to be an uphill struggle to make this acquisition work, especially at such a high price.  While the combined company would rank second among UC providers it would seem a high price to pay to not be number one in the highest ranked Telecom technology.  Realizing that there are other potential benefits to the acquisition perhaps we are being too harsh in our analysis.  Then again perhaps not.  It would seem that Verizon and others, the Canadian citizens among them, are concerned as well but for other reasons.  Add it all up and it is hard to see how this combination will work.

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New research from TheInfoPro provides Networking IT professionals’ intentions regarding vendor selection and spending focus in 2009

NEW YORK, NY, April 16, 2009 – TheInfoPro, an independent research company, today announced that its latest server research shows that there is lessening demand for hardware and, conversely, a continued interest in virtualization among IT professionals. The findings represent …

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Juniper Gaining Ground Among Networking Pros As An Exciting Vendor – New Research from TheInfoPro

Percentage of organizations naming Juniper as an exciting vendor has doubled over the past nine months

NEW YORK, NY, July 31, 2008 – TheInfoPro (TIP), www.theinfopro.$ST_net, an independent research network and leading supplier of market intelligence for the Information Technology (IT) industry, today announced its Networking Wave 4 Exciting Vendors List. This list is compiled on the basis of feedback from Networking professionals regarding which of the Networking vendors and products they consider to be the most exciting.

To view a rich media presentation of findings, visit: http://www.brainshark.com/theinfopro/ Netwrkng_pr4

Highlights of the Exciting Vendor List include:

From a time-series perspective, Juniper saw the largest jump in the percentage of organizations considering it an Exciting Vendor, nearly doubling from 10% in the Networking Wave 3 Study, which was published in the summer of 2007, to almost 20% in Wave 4.
In order of ranking, the following vendors were included in the Wave 4 Exciting Vendors List: Cisco, Juniper, Riverbed, HP, Foundry Networks, Nortel, Force 10, Packeteer, AT&T, Motorola, Microsoft, F5 Networks, Check Point, and Apple
Organizations that also received exciting vendor mentions – and that in Wave 4 are making a first appearance – include: 3Com, AeroScout, Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, ANDA Networks, Bluesocket, Ciena, Cogent, Fortris, IDC Global, Interactive Intelligence, Intuitive Labs, Lancope, NetQoS, Nevis Networks, Packeteer, Positive Networks, SecurActive, TAZZ Networks.
About The Study
Over 130 one-on-one hour-long interviews were conducted with F1000 and MSE end users for the Wave 4 Networking Study, providing commentary and insight on their Networking adoption plans, management strategies, and vendor performance. TIP repeats this structured interview process in six-month intervals – “waves” – for the sectors of investigation, providing unmatched historical reference, trend analysis, and pattern recognition.

Networking Technology providers that were mentioned throughout the study include: 3COM, Accel Net, ADTRAN, AeroScout, Affiliated Computer Services, AirTight Networks, AirWave, Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, American Fiber Systems, ANDA Networks, Apple, Aspera, AT&T, Avocent, Belgravium, Belkin, Bell Canada, Blue Coat, Bluesocket, Buckeye TeleSystem, Cablevision Systems, Call One, CenturyTel, Check Point, Chelsio, China Telecom, Ciena, Cisco, Citizens Communications, Cogent, COLT Telecom, Comcast Coyote Point, Crescendo Networks, Cywest, Delatcom, D-Link, eircom, EMC, Enterasys, Expand Networks, Extreme Networks, F5 Networks, Force10, Fortinet, Fotris Corporation, Foundry Networks, Frontier Systems, GSA Networx, HP, IBM, IDC Global, Infinera, Interactive Intelligence, Internap, IntuitiveLabs, Juniper, KPN International, Lancope, Level 3, LightRiver, Lightspeed Systems, MASERGY, Microsoft, Mitel, Motorola, MOVAS, MRV Communications, NetApp, NetQoS, Nevis Networks, Nortel, NTT, Packeteer, PAETEC, PCCW, Positive Networks, Proxim Wireless, Radware, Riverbed, SecurActive, Secure Computing, ShorTel, Siemens, Sourcefire, Stampede, Stoneware, Swisscom, Symantec, TAZZ Networks, Telenor, TelePacific Communications, TIBCO, Time Warner, Trapeze Networks, Vanco, XO Communications, Xythos, Yipes, Zhone Technologies

Key technologies covered in the study include: WAN Data Compression and Acceleration, 10 Gbps Ethernet Backbone or Core, VPNs – based on SSL, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), 802.11a/b/g Wireless Networks, Ethernet LAN Switching Hardware, Internet VPN (LAN to LAN), Wide Area File Services (WAFS), Multicast, 10 Gbps Ethernet Server Connectivity, Multiport / Multilink Trunking, Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) Hardware, IP Version 6 (IPv6), Ultra-high Speed Networking (40 Gbps / 100 Gbps).

About TheInfoPro
TheInfoPro (TIP) is the only independent research network for the Information Technology (IT) industry. Created in 2002 by alumni of Gartner, EMC, Giga, and Bell Labs, TIP investigates key IT sectors – Networking, Information Security, Servers, Storage, and Sourcing – via a comprehensive in-depth interview process. Through a peer network of over 1800 of the world’s largest buyers and users of IT – including Citigroup, FedEx, McGraw-Hill, MasterCard, and Harvard University – TIP delivers detailed budget, vendor performance and technology roadmap data without spin or bias. Known as the voice of the customer, TIP helps IT professionals, technology providers, and institutional investors make sound decisions on technologies, vendor relationships and investments. To learn more, visit www.theinfopro.net or call 1-212-672-0010

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