Nortel Networks Corp., once a technology giant, has decided to sell itself off in pieces rather than attempt to emerge from bankruptcy as a restructured company.

Toronto-based Nortel is winding down a firm with a 127-year history in Canada and said it is in talks to sell the rest of its operations.

Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski had hoped to restructure and preserve Nortel since seeking bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S.

"We're in advanced discussions with anywhere from three to seven companies for each one of the assets," he said in an interview. "If we're successful in getting the right value and the right integration planning and so on then Nortel as an entity which we know it will no longer be here in the future.''

Zafirovski said the enterprise business, the optical Metro Internet business and the carrier voice over IP and application business, as well as part of the wireless business are among the assets still up for sale. On Saturday, Nokia Siemens Networks said it agreed to buy some of Nortel's wireless operations in a $650 million deal.

Nortel also said it will ask to have its shares delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Nortel employs more than 25,000 people around the world. During the 1990s telecom and Internet boom, Nortel had more than 95,000 employees. At one point in 2000 it accounted for one-third of the market value on the entire Toronto Stock Exchange.

After the dot-com bust in the early part of this decade, Nortel had problems of its own: an accounting crisis that sparked shareholder lawsuits, regulatory investigations and the firing of key executives, including CEO Frank Dunn.

Zafirovski tried to transform the company but he said the economic crisis changed the outlook dramatically. Nortel became the first major technology company to seek bankruptcy protection in this global downturn.

Zafirovski said he's hopeful the remaining transactions will allow employees to join new companies.