In my previous blog, I mentioned I would be beginning the process of exploring some of the emerging applications, and this post is the beginning of that series. However, a little stage setting is in order, and that requires us to look at an oft used (and often useless) term.

If there is any word in telecommunications that has become more hackneyed than "convergence," I'm not sure I know what it is. It's a simple word, actually. Two of the more common meanings include "the tendency for things to move towards one another" or "the tendency for members of a population to become the same." So if all of the animals in the forest head for the same watering hole, we have convergence in the first sense. If all of the animals in the forest start to look like me (some would tell you that I am starting to look like them!), we have convergence in the second sense.

So what does "convergence" mean in the telecom space? Historically it has reflected the first definition: the coming together of voice, video, and data into one network infrastructure. The great enabler of this bold new future is the Internet Protocol (IP): the backbone protocol of the Internet. The great success of the Internet has made this protocol the center of the communication universe. So in addition to all data migrating to the IP-based network, we now also hear about Voice over IP (VoIP), IP Telephony (IPT), and IP television (IPTV).

But convergence has moved well beyond the convergence of all information types to one network. That limited definition springs from the carrier/corporate view of trying to simplify our network infrastructure and achieve economies of scale. If we can get voice and video to operate in one network, we no longer need to build three different networks to support these three information types. That holds promise to save a lot of money! So we re-engineer our network transport core to make that possible. That core now needs to be able to detect different traffic types and handle them accoridng to their needs. This means Quality of Service. This means reviewing our security concerns. This means reviewing network survivability and resiliency. And once the core is done, we examine our access to the core. It too has to be cable of handling different information types. And all of this needs to be done in the carrier network, on the corporate premises, in the home, and in the Internet.

But once the technologies for achieving this exist (and they do), and begin to be deployed (and they are), the eyes come up from their micro-focus on the network and the opportunities for convergence in other arenas becomes evident. After all, the entire purpose of the network is to service the users. The users are people with communication needs. The connection between the users and the network consists of the device the user owns coupled with the applications that device runs. Here is where convergence is truly hot!

Convergence in the device space has two dimensions. First, it means a growing number of devices that are multifunction: they give access to data, voice, and video using a range of applications. The world of intelligent, multifunction cell phones and PDAs is indicative of this. Today's laptop is, by default, a multimedia device. Second, the devices need to be access agnostic; they need to be able to access the network using whatever resource is available wherever they happen to be at the moment. This is an area where the functions and technologies are just beginning to emerge. This is the world of IP Multimedia Service (IMS). Mark Steinberg has blogged on this topic here. Trevor Hindson and Steve Shepard have recorded a succinct and informative podcast on this topic, which can be accessed here in the "In the News" section.

But the heart of the matter is the applications. Here is where the focus needs to be. transport, access, and devices all exist for one purpose: to enable the applications we need and use every day. These applications are simultaneously expanding (increasing in number and type) and converging (increasingly coming together to provide different perspectives on a common information pool).

In coming blogs, we'll begin to explore aspects of this application space, starting with a corporate perspective in the next blog. Have a good weekend and see you next week!