Nortel partners are hopeful that the sale of Alteon will breathe fresh life into the application delivery brand.

Nortel bought Alteon in 2001 for $7.8bn (£5.4bn) but after recently entering bankruptcy protection has agreed to sell the Layer 4-7 Application Delivery business to Radware for just $17.65m.

Darren Boyce, managing director of Nortel partner Applinet, admitted that Alteon had lost its way under Nortel’s parentage.

“Alteon is still the standard by which F5 Networks sets its sites but it needs a new lease of life,” he said. “Radware is saying it will put more beef in the box and it will be a main line for them, whereas with Nortel it was one of many lines.”

Talking to CRN, Radware chief operating officer Ilan Kinriech confirmed that more than a third of the vendor’s engineers would work directly on the Alteon product line to improve its performance and bandwidth.

“We believe the Alteon product line has maintained a strong brand name and customer base and would like to expand it through channels,” he said.

He stressed resellers could continue working with Nortel or choose to develop a direct relationship with Radware.

“We have identified Alteon’s main partners and we plan to open up direct communications with Nortel to ensure the transition is working,” he explained.