Convergence

The market is seeing an accelerated shift from early adopters to widespread adoption of convergent telecom and information technology (IT) networks globally: Convergence at the corporate level is becoming a reality. As Dr. Jack Murphy, HP Fellow Emeritus, said: “On the voice side, we are seeing a movement toward voice over IP, which takes data network technology and applies it to the voice networks. So voice begins to use data network technologies and infrastructure that was developed over the years. At the same time, we also see data networks moving in the direction of voice networks.”

For CSPs, convergence focuses primarily on services and mobility. Ubiquitous technology is transforming physical communications into Internet-based virtual interactions, and the game-based Second Life is now spreading to the corporate world. In the coming years, these trends will accelerate due to the emergence of new models, new capabilities and rapid innovation at the edge of convergence.