Will Juniper buy Avaya to take on Cisco?

Interesting article by Dan Frommer in Forbes magazine. It seems one of the worst kept secrets on the street is that Avaya is in play.  Frommer's Forbes article speculates that the most likely buyer is a private equity group, such as Silver Lake Partners. Another possible suitor is Nortel.  Between them they control a good chunk of the phone equipment business. But Nortel might have too much baggage to undertake such a large acquisition.  Another possibility is Cisco.  Though there is lots of overlap in equipment, it would give them instant market share. Not really a Cisco type of play though.  The most intriguing potential buyer for me though was Juniper. 

Juniper is already a big Avaya partner, so there is a close relationship between the companies.  A big time presence in the phone equipment business would be just what the doctor ordered to re-energize Juniper's sometime lumpy revenue.  It would also allow them to go toe-to-toe with Cisco in a market where Cisco does not have an inherent first movers advantage.  I think Juniper would be viewed as being dynamic and a real player with this move. 

A question that raises is what would become of Avaya's other close partner in the networking business, Extreme Networks.  Would this put them in play as well?  Would it leave them out in the cold?  Any strategic moves on Avaya's part could have a big impact on the purple people. 

Other potential buyers mentioned were HP and Motorola. I don't think either of those are real buyers here though.  No matter how it turns out, Avaya could be a domino that starts a chain reaction in the network world of more consolidation and mergers.