Nortel and Avici are hooking up again, five years after the two split following Nortel’s acquisition of Bay Networks during the expansion of the telecom bubble. Nortel will sell and support Avici’s core routers, and the two will also integrate their products and jointly develop others. This Nortel’s fifth attempt to play in the core router space. Not only did the first Avici partnership fizzle, but so, apparently, did one with Juniper when Juniper jumped into bed with a few Nortel rivals. Nortel has also aborted two attempts to develop a core IP router. (Read the story)

Nortel’s IP story isn’t all futile, though. The company did land a significant VoIP contract with Verizon. Nortel will be Verizon’s exclusive supplier of softswitches, gateways and other VoIP gear for 18 months. This follows VoIP deals with MCI, Sprint and Bell Canada, giving Nortel an impressive head of steam in carrier VoIP. For the enterprise, Verizon and its vendor will upgrade joint enterprise PBX customers to VoIP equipment and services. They are targeting the 13,000 Nortel Meridian PBX systems and 150,000 Norstar key systems utilized by Verizon’s enterprise customers in the carrier’s territory. (Read the story)

Verizon is not just shelling it out for VoIP: The RBOC is plunking down $3 billion over two years to bring broadband to the masses. The investment includes expansion of its wireless and wireline networks, and the rollout of new products and services, like iobi and Verizon One. These two, specifically, are designed to integrate the services delivered over disparate infrastructures - wireline, wireless, data and IP - and the myriad devices now used to access them. (Read the story)