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Siemens has put its Enterprise Communications division up for sale. Potential acquirers are Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), Nortel Networks and hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management.

Alcatel-Lucent would be an interesting partner because Lucent spun off its enterprise division into Avaya about seven years ago; I have said repeatedly that having an enterprise division allows a company to offset weak service provider sales and vice versa.

 

The Siemens (News - Alert) customer base would make a nice addition to the former Alcatel enterprise communications division. In theory this purchase would allow the Paris/New Jersey-based company to have a broader spectrum of customers contributing to its revenue.

 
Nortel Networks has been committed to the enterprise as well as service provider markets. Nortel is a strong technology company and so is Siemens. Both companies were jumped on board early working closely with Microsoft (News - Alert). This would be a nice market share grab for Nortel.

Cerberus Capital Management is an even more interesting potential buyer. The company is strong in disparate industries but not so far in the telecom space. Cerberus is probably best known for its takeover of Chrysler and its hiring of Treasury Secretary John Snow.

Why telecom for Cerberus? Probably the best reason is plain old diversification.

 

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