Nortel said to be weighing Avaya buy

Telecom roll-ups aren't just for the small and weak, it seems; now they're for the big and weak. Word is breaking this week that Nortel is sniffing around Avaya--once part of Lucent which was once part of Western Electric which was once part of AT&T. The combined company, if a merger comes off, would be the world's biggest vendor of telephony gear and would instantly become the dominant player in enterprise VoIP. Will it happen? The Wall Street Journal says any deal is hinging on price and whether the tab would be settled in cash or in stock. Stock analysts like the deal. Telecom analysts are less sure because of product and roadmap overlap; they think the companies may make better competitors than partners.

For more about the reputed Avaya/Nortel deal:
- read this article in InfoWorld

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