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Nortel Lights Up Storage Networks

Nortel Networks Corp.'s (NYSE/Toronto: NT) response to the storage networking boom has been about as noticeable as a fly in a hurricane, especially next to
Cisco Systems Inc.'s (Nasdaq: CSCO)
recent explosion onto this scene.Then again, Cisco doesnt have Nortel’s enviable position in the optical world, which has provided Nortel with a ready-made market for storage networking.

Nortel discovered recently that about half of the traffic run across its Optera metro platform has been storage-related. Unfortunately, this wasn’t all through its own sales of the product, but via an OEM deal with
IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM).

Nortel reckons about a hundred large enterprises are using the IBM-branded Optera metro box for connecting storage over private lines.

For about a year, IBM has been rebranding the Optera metro platform, called the FiberSaver 2029, and selling it to its storage customers to connect Escon- and Ficon-based storage devices over fiber networks.

IBM realized its brand in optical wasn’t as strong as Nortel’s and is now reselling the Optera Metro rather than rebranding it.

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