Integration of Bay into Nortel “was not a success,” he says, but either way, he says the most important thing is to highlight the core enterprise gear in its portfolio. Part of the problem Nortel’s Enterprise faces is that its identity has been obscured by the larger Nortel business push into unified communications.

“The parent company doesn’t understand how important data networking equipment is from a customer perspective,” says “There was a higher level strategic goal that we were peripheral participants in. We were a strategic afterthought.”

But if one rumored deal comes through, might be the buyer, which would create the same problem McHugh sees with Nortel. Avaya’s main message is unified communications, which would subordinate the infrastructure once again. Without having to compete with the marketing din created by other products the enterprise equipment could be better appreciated, he says. “ You have to have an unambiguous statement of intent,” he says.

“Nortel has got to stand toe-to-toe with the networking companies.” He says he is referring o the likes of Cisco and HP, where McHugh worked on the ProCurve line for 10 years. He says that Nortel has a large installed base that is loyal, and he would like to build on that, pushing the enterprise unit’s revenues from $500 million to more than $1 billion in two years.

“Let’s beat Cisco head-to-head in the wiring closet. This is a big installed base with intense loyalty from customers,” he said.