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It’s been a turbulent month since the rumors of Nortel’s (News - Alert) demise owned the headlines — and we have not seen the last of the effects of the Canadian telecom equipment vendor’s difficulties as it moves forward with what it says is a renewed focus on its carrier business.

 

But what of its existing Nortel enterprise customers? What of those businesses looking to make the move to VoIP without sacrificing their current investments? Many vendors have already launched buy-back programs for Nortel customers. That’s not a bad approach for companies with extra cash on hand for a new phone system, or those whose existing systems are aged and due for replacement anyway.

 

It’s safe to say the former doesn’t represent a very large segment of the enterprise population, especially in the current economic climate. For the latter group, choices abound, from on-premises solutions to hosted to hybrid alternatives. Naturally, cost will be a factor, but many of those firms will already have budgeted for a new system (at least the smart ones have).

 

To address this need among the existing Nortel install base not yet ready to replace their legacy systems, yet looking to move to the VoIP generation, Nectar (News - Alert) Services has taken a different approach — what it calls an “anti-buyback program.”   The idea is to allow existing Nortel users to leverage their investments into the foreseeable future by using the Nectar Enterprise Session Management System. Allowing companies to retain their existing equipment, while integrating new technology is likely to be a welcomed approach, believes Joe Fuccillo, CTO at Nectar.

 

“Simply put, we can reduce a company’s telecommunications expenses without costly upgrades, and we can future proof their architecture by instituting a transition strategy that isn't manufacturer-based,” explained Fuccillo.

 

The Nectar platform provides carrier-class routing capabilities and session management functionality that leverage an enterprises existing Nortel solution — in fact the Nectar solution is vendor agnostic, and can be implemented into nearly any enterprise network. It enables customers to preserve their investments in existing telecommunications systems while transitioning to VoIP, offering a full suite of carrier-class functionality using a simple and intuitive application that can easily be installed by existing staff.

 

Once installed, the ESM will function within a company’s existing (and future) communications architecture, allowing for not only increased ROI on current technologies, but ease of deployment of new technologies as needs arise. In the mean time, the win the benefits of what appears as an all-IP infrastructure.

 

Perhaps most importantly in today’s economy, Nectar offers a migration path that offer the best of both worlds — the benefits of VoIP without having to invest in new equipment, let alone train staff on a new system. It’s a much easier sell than convincing an enterprise CIO to rip and replace a complete system.

 

“No company is going to scrap a system that’s fairly new or replace older units that are working just fine,” Fuccillo added.  “However, companies do need to look at their options going forward, and that’s where Nectar comes in as the perfect transition solution.”