Genband Plays Name Game With Nortel SetGenband Plays Name Game With Nortel Set

Genband Inc. is today unveiling its updated product portfolio following the $282 million acquisition of the Nortel Networks Ltd. Carrier VoIP and Application Solutions (CVAS) business. (See The New Genband: Day One, Genband Wins Nortel's Carrier VoIP Biz, Genband CEO Sees Opportunity in a Complex Deal, and Charles Vogt, CEO, Genband.)

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

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