Analyst: Nortel mulling Juniper partnership

Nortel Networks may be evaluating a potential partnership with Juniper Networks, according to one Wall Street analyst.

“We believe Nortel is seriously considering re-engaging its long-lost partnership with Juniper for routing products,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue wrote in a research note this morning.

At press time, neither Nortel nor Juniper would comment on the topic.

The two equipment vendors first announced a partnership in 2000, combining Nortel’s optical gear with Juniper’s M-series core routers.

An alliance between the two today could be complementary in a few ways. Nortel has made strides of late strengthening its presence in the enterprise space, while Juniper’s enterprise business has been criticized by some analysts lately for being unprofitable. Similarly, Nortel has gained traction with Layer 2 technology in recent months, winning British Telecom as a customer of its Provider Backbone Transport gear, while Juniper’s strengths have traditionally been at Layer 3, with IP/MPLS products.

Juniper also has partnerships with Siemens, Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent.