Oh No! not another convergence story

Nortel Networks is showcasing a raft of products and systems at NetWorld+Interop, its first major trade show since the August acquisition of Bay Networks. CEO John Roth is delivering the keynote speech in Atlanta, focusing on future possibilities, including the total integration of voice and data and the delivery of anywhere-anytime communication. Roth will theorise about a new era of networking, staking Nortel’s claim to, “the unoccupied space where data and telephony networks, driven by the Internet, are expected to converge.” Nortel, which sponsors NetWorld+Interop to the tune of $5 million, will demo a range of LAN, WAN and telephony systems and the current integration between Bay and Nortel products. New products include software for the Accelar* 1000 routing switch family, offering redundant Multi-Link Trunking for increased bandwidth and resilience. There are two new additions to the LAN-ATM switching family along with Phase 3 of Passport 4400. Version 2 of the Contivity Extranet software includes support for branch offices with the LAN-to-LAN VPN and new digital certificates; and Nortel will announce alpha sites for VDSL Broadband Access for digital, video and high-speed Internet access. ®