Zeus Kerravala, an analyst at Yankee Group Research Inc. in Boston, said the reluctance to name all the discontinued products "means that customers will speculate that they might get out of the enterprise routing, switching or security areas." Customers should not buy Nortel products that have a low market share "until you find out what they are discontinuing," he said.

Zafirovski's optimism about enterprise sales is surprising, Kerravala added, since enterprise sales have declined year over year at Nortel. "What is he basing enterprise increases on, especially with increased efforts by competitors?" he said. Even if Nortel is committed to its installed base and its INNUA-type customers, "how does that help you grow?"