Interestingly enough, despite my previous post on the dismal record that M&As have had in the past, one of the biggest topics du jour that is occupying the mind of many telecom analysts is that of equipment vendor consolidation, given the similar activity that has happened on the carrier side. 

The rationale goes that because they are fewer customers and probably some reduced CAPEX spend, there will be less revenues to be had by the same number of vendors, ergo the trend is for some of the vendors to amalgamate and be bought.

Light Reading went wild with a few scenarios that could be read here.  Even in Wall Street, some analysts have been in a speculative mood lately.  For instance, CIBC World Markets mentioned in a report that Nortel could potentially beef up its enterprise division by acquiring companies such as Mitel or Inter-Tel (I really do not see either scenario happening, as there would be a lot of duplication and not enough synergies, although a Mitel sale to another vendor such as Hewlett Packard should not be discarded in the long-term future). 

But speculation keeps the world turning.  We will definitely see some M&A activity happening later this year, but certainly not as being anticipated by some telecom industry insiders.