What if Siemens Wins?
Siemens wants Nortel’s enterprise group. The company in late July formed a joint venture – Enterprise Networks Holdings – with private-equity partner The Gores Group LLC. The sole purpose is to buy Nortel’s enterprise assets. If Siemens achieves that goal, Nortel channel partners will be in for some changes. For one thing, Siemens is fairly new to the channel partner world, and to North American markets in general. In May, Siemens, a unified communications vendor, announced its plans to generate 75 percent of its revenue via the channel, within three years. Presently, a mere 15 percent of sales are partner-produced. So, in addition to revamping its reputation from that direct-sales-only, Siemens would have another challenge to tackle if it wins Nortel’s enterprise unit, said Michael Jude, program manager in the consumer communications services practices at Frost & Sullivan. “With Siemens, there is likely a lot of overlap, especially with lower-end PBXs,” Jude said. “This might make for
