Lucent did not throw its hat into the ring until this winter, when it acquired Ascend. Being first to market with new products has its advantages. It attracts favourable press coverage and raises product profiles without having to spend millions in promotion. There is also a tendency for customers to stay with the company from which they first bought. Analysts are particularly excited about Nortel's new Succession network platform, which will allow carriers to make the transition to Internet Protocol without uprooting of their existing systems.
Analysts are excited about what they are seeing.
Of course, while Nortel seems to be ahead of its peers in the telecommunication equipment industry, it still has to contend with Cisco Systems in the data-networking realm. But analysts are also expecting Nortel to do well here. Beyond the near term, however, the price of Nortel shares look set for significant long-term appreciation based on its emerging product lines and the improving international economy.