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F E A T U R E

DIGITAL CONVERGENCE

The Survivor's Guide to 2002

December 17, 2001
By Sean Doherty


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Increased bandwidth and upgraded infrastructure tamed burgeoning data networks in the 1990s. New applications have recently converged on the networks, however, and returned them to the wilderness. The integration of audio and video with digital data presents a new challenge, with streaming media, integrated messaging, digital telephony and videoconferencing applications in the fore. These convergence applications will increase bandwidth requirements, add to storage costs and stretch thin your already burdened support staff. If you intend to bring your network down this path, you need to plan carefully and keep your business needs in sight to maximize your ROI (return on investment).


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Convergence applications let enterprises use and reuse rich media content to improve corporate communications and reduce training and collaboration costs. They may also help leverage your existing infrastructure by carrying voice as well as data services. Although alluring and promising, convergence applications should not compete with existing mission-critical applications. They need to do more than simply replace the status quo. If you are seriously considering convergence applications, ask yourself if incorporating them will reduce costs, increase productivity and introduce new revenue streams. If you answered no to any of the above, this may be the Year of the Horse, but convergence technologies will be walking not riding.

The goal of streaming-media content technologies is to reduce costs while increasing the effectiveness of corporate communications. The benefits are reaped by employees, customers and partners alike. A variety of applications enhance collaboration on group projects, satisfy training needs and communicate business messages.

To this end, no killer app was introduced last year, but all the applications available on streaming media were improved--both in quality and resolution. In 2002, streaming media solutions will integrate with business applications, like Microsoft PowerPoint, and other collaborative tools, such as chats and whiteboards. Also expect them to blend significantly into a portal near you. If you haven't settled on a dedicated streaming solution, check out one of the many cool bundles that gives you more than just audio and video.

Many vendors will have you believe it's just a matter of time before VoIP (voice over IP) runs like any other application on your network. Don't believe everything you hear: VoIP needs more time to mature. Still, if you can justify it, running voice services on your data networks can result in large cost reductions and big productivity gains in unified messaging for e-mail, voicemail and faxes. 2002 may be a good year to begin a pilot project to test both the strength of your network and vendor claims, though you won't lose your competitive edge if you wait. VoIP, like ATM, won't be going away anytime soon.

ATM has lost favor in the eyes of some, but it's still a strong Layer 2 technology for service providers and carriers. As a circuit-switched network, ATM has QoS (Quality of Service) that makes it an ideal transport for audio and video, and new services like MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) enhance its appeal. Vendors will build bigger and faster ATM switches to increase bandwidth and mileage.

Over the past year, content-delivery technology saw new directions rather than new developments. Large content owners like CNN and ABC used traditional content-delivery solutions like Akamai Technologies' and Digital Island's overlay networks to reach consumers. Dwindling numbers of B2C (business-to-consumer) enterprises mean content-delivery providers are on the lookout for new markets. Companies with "old" money and "new" content are likely targets for ECDNs (enterprise content delivery networks) in 2002.

Among the fastest growing Internet technologies, ECDNs aim to provide high-quality, dynamic content and streaming media to employees through network- and server-side caching devices and content-management solutions. Look for solutions to leverage your existing infrastructure and integrate with existing applications and content types .