A few Nortel products are being renamed under the Genband single-letter convention ("C" for call center stuff, "G" for gateways, etc.) Others are still being offered but will gradually be replaced. For example, Nortel's MG 15000 gateway media gateway will survive in "sustaining mode," eventually giving way to Genband's flagship G9, says CEO Charlie Vogt.
Table 1: Genband's New Product Names
| Old (Nortel) Name | New (Genband) Name | Function |
| Adaptive Application Engine (A2E) | A2 | SIP application servers |
| WMG 6000 | A6 | Call center routing |
| CS 1500 | C15 | Softswitch |
| MG 9000 | unchanged | Media gateway |
| MG 15000 | unchanged | Media gateway |
| Source: Genband | ||
One new product being announced is the C20 softswitch, an update of Nortel's Communication Server (CS) 2000. While the CS 2000 will still be offered, the C20 offers the usual next-generation benefits of higher capacity and a smaller box size.
The C20 also introduces Genius, Genband's AdvancedTCA (ATCA) platform that will be the basis of all future IP products.
Genband describes these products as a complete package for IMS, or next-generation VoIP networks. Much has been made of the additions Nortel brings to Genband, but Vogt says Genband filled a critical gap for Nortel as well -- meaning, Nortel lacked access gateways.
Genband officials have already delivered details of the new portfolio to sales staff in North America, who met in Plano, Texas, last week. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) sales team was briefed in London the previous week, while the Asia/Pacific crew is meeting this week in Hong Kong.
What's harder to quantify, but still instrumental to Genband's future, is the range and depth of professional services the company plans to provide. Vogt describes services as a key piece of the Nortel CVAS deal, citing Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) as that business's star customer.
The CEO expects services to become even more crucial as carriers more aggressively migrate networks from TDM to IP: Many service providers lack the IP expertise needed to perform that switchover.
"Our services organization represents almost about 30 percent of our business," Vogt says. "We're going to put a huge emphasis on IP services."
— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading
Nortel didn't have an access gateway because former CEO John Roth decided to divest Nortel's access business in 2001. Roth believed that the future of access was 100% fiber. That's just one of a hundred strategic mistakes that drove Nortel into bankruptcy.
Unless I'm mistaken, Genband isn't really in the access business -- except for the POTS-centric MG 9000 from Nortel CVAS. Genband doesn't have an organic IP DSLAM, MSAN, BLC, or ONT. Instead, Genband simply interfaces with the GR-303 northbound from one of those.