Nortel Asset Scooped Up by Radware

Radware promised to invest "significantly" in service and support for the Alteon line, including a five-year product support plan. Although he would not go into specifics, Kinreich confirmed that a number of Nortel employees, mostly Alteon engineers and support specialists, will be moving over to Radware.

"This move is a positive one for both companies and their respective customers and partners," wrote Cindy Borovick, research vice president at technology analyst firm IDC, in a statement. "It will provide a stable path forward for existing Nortel application delivery customers."

The deal was particularly complicated given Nortel's current situation, according to Radware's Kinreich.

"It was very complex," he explained. "We had to deal with three courts in three jurisdictions and many more lawyers than you would imagine."

Radware nonetheless hopes to complete the acquisition sometime between the end of March and mid-April although Kinreich explained that the deal is still subject to court approval.

The next few months will certainly be crucial for Nortel, which has been wrestling with plummeting sales of its wireless gear and recently discontinued its mobile WiMAX operations in an attempt to further streamline its business.

Ernst & Young, which is monitoring Nortel's restructuring, gave a glimpse into the company's overhaul in a recent report to the Canadian court. Cost-cutting efforts include a "detailed plan" for a reduction of Nortel's global workforce, a review of real estate, property and IT equipment leases and cuts in discretionary spending, it said.

Nortel nonetheless claimed to have taken a major step on the comeback trail earlier this month when the Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted a request to extend the firm's creditor protection until May 1.