Nortel Networks — 70 prefixes (MA-L)

Nortel Networks holds 70 distinct MA-L (24-bit OUI) blocks in the cached IEEE registry, all under the "Nortel Networks" registrant family — a footprint that reflects a large, real hardware manufacturer rather than a paper registration. Nortel (formerly Northern Telecom / Northern Electric, founded 1895) was a major Canadian telecommunications and networking equipment vendor whose product line spanned DMS-100 digital central-office switches and, after its 1998 acquisition of Bay Networks, an extensive enterprise data-networking catalog: the BayStack Ethernet/Fast Ethernet switch family, the Ethernet Routing Switch (ERS) 325/460/470/5500 series, Passport routers, and OPTera optical platforms. Those device families are independently documented in Nortel configuration manuals, so the OUI holder is unambiguously a genuine equipment maker. The 70 assignments cluster across three main manufacturing/registration addresses — 8200 Dixie Rd, Brampton, Ontario (44 rows); 2221 Lakeside Blvd, Richardson, Texas (8 rows); and Carretera Base Aerea #5850, Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico (8 rows) — plus scattered singletons in Billerica MA, Kanata ON (OPTera Solutions Division), Santa Clara CA, and Belleville ON. Two minor spelling variants appear alongside the dominant name: "NORTEL" (OUI 0090CF) and "Nortel Networks Broadband Access" (OUI 00908E). The critical caveat for present-day interpretation is that Nortel no longer exists as an operating company — it filed for insolvency protection in January 2009 and its business units were sold off (Enterprise Solutions to Avaya, optical/carrier-Ethernet to Ciena, wireless to Ericsson, and ~6,000 patents to the Rockstar consortium), so legacy Nortel-branded switches seen on a network today are supported under successor brands, chiefly Avaya, not Nortel.

IEEE assignment

70 prefixes → "Nortel Networks", MA-L only [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry (0 matches in the IEEE MA-M registry/MA-M and the IEEE MA-S registry/MA-S)

Registry / block size

MA-L (24-bit OUI) for all 70 assignments; no MA-M or MA-S blocks exist for this vendor [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry. NOTE: IEEE public OUI data publishes NO assignment/registration date (the IEEE MA-L registry has no date column); any "date registered" on third-party MAC-lookup tools is a database artifact, not an IEEE fact — none is recorded here.

Organization name variants

dominant "Nortel Networks" (68 rows); "NORTEL" (1 row, OUI 0090CF); "Nortel Networks Broadband Access" (1 row, OUI 00908E) [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry

Primary registry address

8200 Dixie Rd, Brampton, Ontario, CA (44 of 70 rows) [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry

Other significant address clusters

2221 Lakeside Blvd, Richardson, TX 75081, US (8 rows); Carretera Base Aerea #5850, Zapopan, Jalisco, MX 44130 (8 rows); plus singletons at Billerica MA, Kanata ON (OPTera Solutions Division), Santa Clara CA, and Belleville ON [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry

Verified sample prefixes (all MA-L)

00:1F:46, 00:03:4B, 00:0E:40, 00:24:B5, 68:78:4C, E0:26:36 [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry

Company status

dissolved — filed for insolvency protection Jan 2009; assets sold 2009–2011 (Enterprise Solutions → Avaya; optical/carrier-Ethernet → Ciena; wireless/CDMA & LTE → Ericsson; ~6,000 patents → Rockstar consortium) [Confirmed] — Wikipedia (Nortel), Cleary Gottlieb insolvency notice

Company history

founded 1895 as Northern Electric / later Northern Telecom, renamed Nortel Networks; acquired Bay Networks 1998 [Confirmed] — Wikipedia (Nortel), txo.com

Device types

enterprise Ethernet switches (BayStack; Ethernet Routing Switch 325/460/470/5500 series), Passport routers, OPTera optical platforms, DMS-100 central-office switches [Confirmed] — List of Nortel products (Wikipedia), Nortel ERS 5500 / 325-24T configuration manuals

Security context

legacy Nortel enterprise switches shipped with documented default credentials (e.g. ES 460/470 sw v3.7.x default RW/secure, RO/user); ERS 5500 supports MAC-based port security and RADIUS-backed authentication [Likely] — michaelfmcnamara.com, Nortel ERS 5500 Configuration–Security guide. No specific CVE was searched for this pass — treat CVE status as Unknown/not-checked, not "none exist."

Existing master entry

none — no row for this vendor in this site's own enrichment records; fresh lookup [Confirmed] — this site's own enrichment records

Multi-block note

this vendor maps to 70 separate MA-L blocks, not one OUI; a single canonical OUI/address pair cannot be chosen without the caller specifying which prefix the page is keyed to. The static page (mac/vendor/nortel-networks/index.html) states "68 IEEE OUI assignments," corroborating the multi-OUI count independently (minor count difference vs. 70 is likely spelling-variant scoping).

[Confirmed] — mac/vendor/nortel-networks/index.html, the IEEE MA-L registry

Analyst note

A globally-administered Nortel OUI identifies genuine legacy Nortel/Bay Networks hardware; given the 2009 dissolution, such devices in service today are typically supported under successor brands (chiefly Avaya).