Nortel Networks Corp. has come to an agreement with Hitachi Ltd. on the sale of its next-generation packet core network component assets for $10 million US.

A man walks past a company sign at a Nortel Networks office tower in Toronto in February. The insolvent company has been selling off its assets to pay creditors since January. (Nathan Dennette/Canadian Press)

The deal is expected to be closed before the end of the year. The company will appear at a U.S. court in Delaware on Wednesday afternoon to pursue court approval for the transaction.

The assets include software to support data transfer over existing and next-generation wireless networks, including relevant non-patent intellectual property and equipment and a licence for certain relevant patents and other intellectual property.

The sale does not include legacy packet core components for Nortel's third-generation Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Global System for Mobile (GSM) businesses.

Nortel has been selling off its global operations piece by piece after seeking court protection from creditors in January. Earlier this month, it received approval for a $521-million US bid by Ciena Corp. for its Optical Networking business as part of an auction.

Last month, Nortel announced its Enterprise Solutions division would be sold to New Jersey-based Avaya for $900 million US. Avaya had originally bid $475 million in July but then had to sweeten the offer to win an auction that began Sept. 11 and lasted several days.

Prior to that, LM Ericsson of Sweden agreed to pay $1.13 billion for Nortel's wireless network business, beating out a $650-million stalking horse bid put forward by Nokia Siemens, a joint venture between Finland's Nokia Corp. and Germany's Siemens AG.

With files from The Canadian Press