Nortel Swings on Trapeze
March 23, 2005
No surprise: Nortel has settled on a new WLAN switch product license partner, after being left behind when its former source got bought out by the competition.
Nortel Networks In addition to Nortel becoming a Trapeze OEM, the two companies will also work together on new features. The plan is to build support for "Trapeze's technology into Nortel communications platforms to deliver a seamless wired and wireless network," according to a statement.
Both Alcatel and Nortel used to rebrand and sell equipment from Airespace Networks, until it was announced that Airespace is being purchased by Cisco, a $425 million acquisition due to be finalized within days.
Trapeze recently announced a program to allow third parties to make access points that work with the Trapeze switch; it should now follow that those same third-party APs will work with the Nortel 2300 Series. The first partner to sign on and make such a product is D-Link. and Trapeze Networks made official this morning their rumored partnership. Nortel will be re-branding Trapeze's WLAN switch equipment for resale in its channels worldwide, and will call the equipment the WLAN 2300 Series.
