A couple of days after suing Lucent, Alcatel and Cisco, Telcordia Technologies is now in the process of being sold, according to investment banking rag, The Daily Deal. The daily says JP Morgan is handling the auction process and expects to get about $1 billion to $2 billion for the software company.

Like all parts of Bell System, Telcordia has fallen on hardtimes. Telcordia, previously known as Bellcore, the research unit for the Baby Bells after AT&T Corp.’s breakup in 1984 was sold to Science Applications International Corp. in 1997 and renamed it in 1999. This is a great company, but has seen its revenues slow down largely due to the telecom slowdown.

Warburg Pincus, Gores Technology Group, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, and GTCR Golder Rauner – the buyout firms with history of telecom investments are gunning for this deal. Others making a big for this company could include IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Amdocs Ltd. and Comverse Technology, The Daily Deal adds. This would be a good strategic fit for pretty much anyone, but Lucent and Cisco should get in the hunt as well. Lucent, as a way to defend its RBOC turf, and Cisco to well get into the Bell business. Of course, Cisco has a terrible record of making large acquisitions and software clearly is not their strength.

New developments that have given competitors a doorway into the market may also provide growth opportunities for Telcordia, said Jim Andrew of technology and strategy consulting firm Adventis Corp. “The billing systems and operating systems will all have to change to adapt to the new technology,” said Andrew, noting that this would create demand for Telcordia’s services.”I could see why private equity players would be interested,” he said. “The challenge is that Telcordia doesn’t have a monopoly position. They’ve got some pretty tough competitors, and they see this opportunity, too.”