"It's the debt burden you'd have to take on that's really making it hard to sell Nortel now," Chua said.

For customers, the hardest part is waiting.

"It's hard to invest in any product Nortel has, because you just don't know what the company is going to have in its portfolio post-restructuring," Kerravala said. But he thinks whatever happens will be resolved within a year.

For potential acquirers, it will all come down to striking the right price, JMP Securities' Wilson said.

"It'll be a messy situation all around. Interesting, but messy," Wilson said.