Nortel “business as usual” for Commander contracts

Mark Stevens, president, Australia and New Zealand at Nortel told CRN the vendor “regrets what's currently happening with Commander” and hopes for a
quick resolution.

“In the meantime our customers and nPower channel partners can be assured that Nortel will continue to provide support as required. We're monitoring the situation and as far as we're concerned it's business as usual for Nortel," said Stevens.

Commander landed a deal with contact centre outsourcer, PCI, to fit out the organisation with Nortel equipment in July. The deal was currently worth around $750,000, and that figure was to rise over the life of the contract.

The embattled service provider also secured a $7 million dollar contract to upgrade Melbourne's RMIT University’s network with products from Nortel, in February.

The “business as usual” line was also being touted by Peter Anderson, Chris Honey and Joseph Hayes at McGrathNicol – Commander’s Receivers and Managers -appointed by the service providers banking syndicate.

According to a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), control of the business and assets of Commander rests with the receivers – who intend to run trade Commander on a “business as usual” basis, while sales of the various Commander Group’s businesses are being pursued.

The receivers stated Commander’s services will continue uninterrupted whilst sales of the various Group businesses are pursued. “All Commander customer needs continue to be serviced,” the receivers stated.

Commander announced to the industry it had placed itself in voluntary administration on the 8 August.

Many in the channel have attributed Commander’s downfall to its decision to branch into the carrier service, with the purchase of RSL.com and data servicing – through the purchase of Volante.