The FCC ruled that VoIP carriers will be required to provide enhanced 911 emergency calling service. Commissioners called E911 an essential service for all telephone carriers to provide, whether the carriers use the traditional public switched telephone network or IP networks. The FCC's order requires VoIP carriers to provide their customers E911 service within five to six months. E911 must be a standard feature, not an optional feature provided by VoIP carriers. VoIP providers that do not comply could be fined or ordered to cease operations, according to the FCC. (Read the story)

Nortel has entered into an agreement with IBM to jointly develop telecom products. The agreement will initially focus on the development of carrier-grade servers based on IBM's BladeCenter server design. The two companies have established a 30-person joint development center in Research Triangle Park, N.C. In addition to the BladeCenter servers, IBM plans to provide the engineering and technical services to help Nortel develop a range of products for multimedia services, VoIP, and wired and wireless broadband services. (Read the story)

Laurel Networks and new parent ECI Telecom have reaffirmed their commitment to the 2-year-old OEM relationship between Laurel and Marconi. ECI, which competes with Marconi, acquired Laurel last week.   The two companies say they will continue to pursue opportunities in the U.S. Federal market, enterprise customers worldwide, as well as service providers "where appropriate" -- read, with those not being pursued by ECI. (Read the story)