ECI completes recovery with Nortel marketing agreement

ECI Telecom, which has spent the better part of the last year shoring up its financial situation, today announced it has signed a strategic agreement with Nortel Networks.

Though both companies refused to provide many specifics, the objective is to deliver a broadband access solution that will allow carriers to offer triple-play services.

"It’s a framework agreement and we’re working out a lot of the specifics," said a Nortel spokeswoman. "It’s involves their BB access products and our products."

The move, however, is not a strategic shift for Nortel, she added.

Nortel previously had sold off much of its access group to Zhone Technologies in 2001 but retained some product lines including its Passport switching and wireless access groups.

ECI, based in Israel, has a fairly wide range of broadband components. Its major product in the category is the Hi-Focus family of DSL access gateways. In a research note, Steve Levy, managing director of wireline equipment equity research for Lehman Bros., said the agreement could dramatically help ECI's presence in the U.S. and Asia. The company has been a top three supplier of DSLAM equipment outside of the U.S., he added. A spokesman for ECI said the agreement will focus on sales and marketing intiatives, adding that there is a cooperative marketing plan in development and a potential for joint product development.