IBM and Nortel are helping telecom carriers drive network convergence. It will give their subscribers a voice, data and video communications experience across a wide range of devices and accessed from any network—wireline, wireless or DSL/cable broadband. This includes fostering an expanded ecosystem for third parties to develop and test new converged applications, joint centres, and Nortel integrating with IBM's WebSphere software. In addition, the agreement facilitates the inclusion of Nortel Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) applications in IBM carrier solutions, the companies said in a joint statement.

This new agreement builds on an existing relationship that has led to successful IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) carrier customer trials across the globe. As part of the new agreement IBM and Nortel will use each of their current IMS developer and interoperability testing programs to accelerate and enable telecom application providers and carriers to bring new multimedia services to market, such as—presence capabilities, IP security/surveillance, child tracking, 'find-your-buddy', video dating, and enterprise business applications with click-to-call capabilities, the companies said.