The Upshot at the JPMorgan H&Q Conference: Ending With a Whimper

Houston, We Have a Business Problem

When your earnings are in the toilet, you've fired enough people to fill an NBA arena, and you're clueless about your business outlook, speaking at an investment banking conference has got to rank right up there with changing the kitty litter on the fun-o-meter.

So forgive Brian McFadden, a midlevel Nortel Networks(NT Quote) executive, for spending an hour at the JP Morgan H&Q Technology Conference Thursday playing duck and cover from the Canadian optical gear maker's monumental problems. ...