Nortel Getting Serious About IPTV

Nortel announced an IPTV partnerships today with NDS that provides access to the NDS MediaHighway middleware. It also announced that it will offer its own set-top box using a unit manufactured by the LG-Nortel joint venture.

Neither of these appear to be strategic relationships. Nortel has already partnered with Minerva with its niddleware software and Amino for set-top boxes. Nortel has not declared that it is abandoning either of these relationships.

Nortel and Calix Reform Alliance

Nortel and Calix announced a joint marketing agreement that gives Nortel access to Calix's broadband access products. The two companies had a previous agreement for three years that resulted in providing 2,300 Calix systems with 400,000 interfaces to 26 telcos. The previous agreement was terminated last year when Nortel announced plans to form an alliance with Huawei. Now that the Huawei agreement has fallen through, Nortel is coming back to Calix.

Nortel exited the broadband access business more than five years ago. It has been working to find a way back in and into the IPTV market ever since. Its relationship with Calix has been a viable way to serve the small U.S. telcos. It should continue to work.