diff --git a/IPython/zmq/__init__.py b/IPython/zmq/__init__.py
index e69de29..0abf265 100644
--- a/IPython/zmq/__init__.py
+++ b/IPython/zmq/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+#  Copyright (C) 2010  The IPython Development Team
+#
+#  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  The full license is in
+#  the file COPYING.txt, distributed as part of this software.
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Verify zmq version dependency >= 2.0.10
+#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+minimum_pyzmq_version = "2.0.10"
+
+try:
+    import zmq
+except ImportError:
+    raise ImportError("IPython.zmq requires pyzmq >= %s"%minimum_pyzmq_version)
+
+pyzmq_version = zmq.__version__
+
+if pyzmq_version < minimum_pyzmq_version:
+    raise ImportError("IPython.zmq requires pyzmq >= %s, but you have %s"%(
+                    minimum_pyzmq_version, pyzmq_version))
+
+del pyzmq_version