Nortel's Enterprise VP: Let's Resurrect Bay Networks Brand

It looks John McHugh, VP, enterprise data solutions with Nortel’s (NRTLQ.PK) enterprise business, looks to be getting his ducks lined for a new employer amid rumors the business could soon be sold to Avaya (AV) for $500-million.

In an interesting interview with Network World’s Tim Greene, McHugh suggests that Nortel should bring back the Bay Networks brand, which disappeared soon after Nortel purchased Bay for $9.1-billion at the peak of the telecom boom.

“The more independently I can run this business and take it back to its roots and make Bay Networks exist again, the more effective and focused we are going to be,” he said. “I would like Nortel to reincarnate Bay Networks.”

In what can only been be seen as a not-so-subtle criticism of Nortel’s senior management team, McHugh said part of the enterprise unit’s problems has been that “the parent company doesn’t understand how important data networking equipment is from a customer perspective. There was a higher level strategic goal that we were peripheral participants in. We were a strategic afterthought.”

McHugh was hired by Nortel a year ago after 26 years with Hewlett-Packard,