Nortel gets game

Canadian-based Nortel Networks last week announced it was expanding its nascent small- and midsize-business networking portfolio with two new data products. It also and upgraded its SMB VoIP offering.

Nortel also is adding new sales training and marketing tools for its channel partners targeting small and medium-sized bsinesses.

The announcement follows a major SMB channel push that began with the launch of Nortel’s first SMB data networking products in June.

Richard Solosky, director of product marketing at Nortel, told CRN.com that “The goal here is to try to strengthen our SMB portfolio so we make it easier for the channel and our partners to sell converged SMB solutions."

Congrats to Nortel (from a long-suffering shareholder) for getting into the groove. Their needs may be different from those of enterprise-sized clients, but small and medium-sized businesses account for more than 90% of the prospects out there – and they're not as cheap as you think. When they have a problem, they need it fixed fast.