The Nortel Energy and Charm Offensives

Last month, Nortel [1] launched its "ruthless" Cisco Energy Tax campaign at Interop. More recently, the company has engaged in a sustained charm campaign to woo the analyst and press communities in order to generate positive buzz.

Nortel says that, kilowatt for kilowatt, its data center gear outperforms comparable Cisco equipment in 50 percent lower energy consumption; not to mention it's faster, more reliable and less expensive. The Tolly Group has backed Nortel's claims and has over 50 testimonial claims from customers who have ditched Cisco and gone over to Nortel. And Nortel wants to buyers to know that its LAN gear is purpose-built for unified communications (UC).

Nortel's charm campaign started last month at the grass roots level, rolling in a group of bloggers to Ottawa to let them see the latest R&D they have going on. Last week, a larger group of press and analysts were flown into Dallas to engage in a larger set of briefings outlining Nortel's UC strategy. The backdrop opulence of the Gaylord Texan Resort didn't hurt matters much; but a first-day separation of analysts and media did raise some eyebrows.

During the Dallas presentations witnessed by this reporter, the Energy Tax campaign was highlighted, complete with slides showing what happens if you put "Cisco Energy Tax" into Google (the exercise is left to the reader).

For more:
- Jon Arnold's blog posting on The New Nortel [2]
- Nortel Buzzboard tells you which bloggers they wooed [3]

Related articles:
Nortel's Return From Doom [4]
Nortel: $23 a share? [5]