ECI Telecom is getting ready to take on some of the larger telecom industry players in the bustling broadband bazaar. Alcatel, Cisco and Huawei have benefited from the broadband build out but ECI’s $88 million buyout of Laurel, along with investments in core IP router start-up, Chiaro Networks, will make the Israeli company a tough competitor. ECI has seriously strong footprints in Europe and Asia. Laurel makes B-RAS (edge) routers and has also is IPTV friendly. Laurel, which had about $9 million in the bank had raised more than $200 million in venture capital. NEA, Ciena, Worldview, Trinity and WorldCom are some of the investors taking their lumps on this deal. Further more, this is ghastly news for Marconi, which works with Laurel. ECI and Marconi compete aggressively for telecom scraps. More at Light Reading.