Further evidence that there is still quite a bit of value in Nortel, particularly in its enterprise division: The company is supposedly working on a new services router that would put applications on top of network gear a la HP's ProCurve One initiative.

Since the company is in Chapter 11, it seems to be a whispering campaign at the moment, with John McHugh, the new VP of Enterprise Solutions, sharing a few details with InternetNews, such as the notion that both application and voice communications can be carried on basically the same architecture.

He goes on to say that the project is focused on allowing for a secure, controllable network host, plus there is the problem of defining the types of applications that would do well residing on the network.

It's also a continuation of an ongoing trend among network vendors to shed their traditional roles as movers of data to that of services provider. The ProCurve One Initiative involves porting applications to router blades, while networking giant Cisco is said to be crafting its own blade design, quite possibly one that will take advantage of the Application eXtention Platform that opens the company's APIs to third parties.

McHugh hinted that the new router could be out this year. That, of course, will depend very much on what shape Nortel is in after the bankruptcy process.