Nortel said the decision will let the company focus investment on an area where it is realizing momentum and stability. Nortel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors as it attempts to restructure the company operationally and , and last week it fired 3,200 more .

Affected product lines include the Metro Ethernet Routing Switch 8600, Metro Ethernet Services Unit 1800 and the Metro Ethernet Manager element and domain management system. Nortel says it has dedicated resources to continue to work with customers, and that it will continue to service, support, and ship products to its CESR installed base.

Nortel recently took its Metro Ethernet Networks business unit off the selling block as it undergoes its Chapter 11 restructuring (http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/020409-nortel.html).

Products not affected by the move include Ethernet access and aggregation systems, and the company's enterprise Ether Routing Switch 8600 portfolio.

"We are not abandoning our Carrier Ethernet technology innovation, but simply focusing our Carrier Ethernet investment away from the switch/router segment," a company spokesman stated in an e-mail to Network World. "This decision supports the goal to make Nortel a more focused company."