Nortel Networks apparently is in trouble again. The company has slashed its revenue forecasts, prepared for more layoffs and is trying to sell its metro Ethernet networks business.

Today’s news is reminiscent of the turmoil the company experienced back in 2001 when it scrambled to move overstock and slashed 30,000 jobs. Four years later, Mike Zafirovski left Motorola to take over the reins of Nortel, promising to turn the infrastructure maker’s ship around.

During his tenure, Zafirovski has rebuilt his senior team, cleaned up accounting messes from the previous leadership team, reduced additional headcount and tried to gain a stronghold in new technologies such as WiMAX.

Zafirovski attributed the weak Q3 results to a slow economy and reduced spending in telecom.