Nortel's back!!

Just when you thought the world didn't have any surprises left, a consortium of Canadian and Asian private equity investors has sprung up to pump US$150 million into the resurrection of Nortel Networks, one of the biggest ever names in the telecom world.

And with an eye on the future, and 5G already so hotly contested, the Montreal-based "New Look Nortel" is to focus on the development of components and software for 6G networks, Light Reading learned early this morning.

You're invited to attend Light Reading's Big 5G Event! Formerly the Big Communications Event and 5G North America, Big 5G is where telecom's brightest minds deliver the critical insight needed to piece together the 5G puzzle. We'll see you May 6-8 in Denver -- communications service providers get in free!

It's about ten years since Nortel collapsed in a scandalous fashion, leaving creditors out of pocket, executives in court, staff seeking new jobs and, ultimately, top-class communications networking technology sold mainly to rivals. Nortel's optical transport technology, for example, was snapped up by Ciena and is now part of the portfolio that is fueling the Hanover, Md.-based vendor's current success.

Details are scant. The backing appears to have been raised from Canadian pension funds and some specialist tech investors from South Korea and Japan. No executive names have been linked to the revived company.

To find out more, check out this blog post from the new Nortel owners.

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— Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading