3/28/2005 -- Cisco’s acquisition of Airespace—which the networking giant formally completed last week—changed things for a lot of vendors in the enterprise WLAN space, and instantly catapulted Cisco into the position of enterprise WLAN feature and function leader.

The effects of that acquisition were still being felt last week, when Nortel networks announced a long-term alliance and development relationship with enterprise WLAN specialist Trapeze Networks. The two companies announced plans to co-develop an integrated WLAN portfolio that’s optimized for voice, multimedia and data applications.

Nortel, of course, is a former Airespace reseller, which (like other former Airespace resellers) found itself out in the cold and bereft of an enterprise WLAN solution when Cisco pulled off its blockbuster deal.

In this context, the Nortel-Trapeze partnership comes not a moment too soon, says Joel Conover, a principal analyst for enterprise infrastructure with consultancy Current Analysis Inc.

“It was imperative that Nortel establish an alternate WLAN offering after the Cisco acquisition of Airespace, because Nortel had established significant market momentum in the WLAN market with the Airespace products, and the company needed to act quickly to ensure a smooth transition while market demand and interest remained high. The deal is equally important to Trapeze, because Trapeze needs high-volume channels that reach to the service provider and large enterprise markets, and Nortel has those channels.

If nothing else, Conover notes, the agreement gives Nortel a more or less pre-fabricated WLAN strategy, in the form of Trapeze’s enterprise WLAN solutions, which Nortel will sell through channel partners as part of an OEM offering, the WLAN 2300 series.

In this respect, Conover notes, the partnership helps to repair some of the damage wrought by Cisco. “Nortel needed to take decisive actions to get its WLAN strategy back on track before Cisco could capitalize on the disarray it created when it acquired Nortel WLAN partner Airespace,” he writes. “Trapeze products fill that gap nicely with a set of technologies that offer benefits that are very similar to Airespace. Trapeze is also much more open to joint development efforts, which should enable Nortel to differentiate its solution in the market.”

What’s more, Conover notes, Nortel has been careful not to make the same mistake twice. “The development-level relationship also helps Nortel protect itself from another ‘hostile’ acquisition. If Nortel integrates the Trapeze solution into its own products, it would be next to impossible to simply acquire the technology out from under Nortel’s feet,” he notes.

Even so, Conover says, the combined Cisco/Airespace could simply prove too much for Nortel. “[W]hile Nortel may be able to pick up and move on, it now faces a much more capable Cisco as its number one competitor, and Cisco has the added fodder that Nortel used to source the very solution it now sells,” he writes. “For Nortel, the market is fundamentally changed, and Nortel will have to find new reasons to convince customers to go with its solutions in the future.”

Elsewhere, he observes, Nortel will have its hands full supporting its checkered WLAN product portfolio—including customers that purchased the company’s rebadged Airespace WLAN gear. “Nortel must now support three different WLAN solutions that it has pushed into the market. Nortel has committed to supporting its Airespace-based solution for at least three more years, and it also has its first-generation WLAN 2200 switch offering to support,” he concludes. “While the Trapeze-based solution is clearly the lead product going forward, Nortel has saddled itself with supporting three technology platforms, a situation that will sap resources and R&D dollars from Nortel’s mainline WLAN development efforts.” -Stephen Swoyer