Telecom Convergence, 2/e: How to Bridge the Gap Between Technologies and Services

A trend is underway in which voice and data communications are merging. The irresistible logic is that digitized voice is just another kind of data, after all; so, why not carry it on the same data links that handle all of our other ones and zeros? The economies of convergence can be considerable: there's no need to build and support separate voice and data infrastructures when you can have just one. That combination of infrastructures presents the problem that Telecommunications Convergence aims to solve: data people, who haven't worried about voice in the past, have to worry about it now. Similarly, people who used to specialize exclusively in switched voice circuits must adapt to the new environment.

In this book, Steven Shepard points out that there's more to telecommunications convergence than just moving everything across IP (or ATM or Frame Relay) networks. He sees convergence of voice and data transport technologies accelerating, yes; but he also points to a blurring of traditional business roles (witness AOL, formerly just an ISP, buying Time-Warner, a content and distribution company). He also sees the convergence of services--meaning that the consumer doesn't care which network delivers his on-demand movies or her faxes--playing a big role in the future of telecommunications. Shepard bases well-reasoned arguments on a year's worth of research, including many interviews with experts in a variety of relevant fields. Read this book for pleasure (it's written that well), and profit from the lessons that it contains. --David Wall

Topics covered: The convergence of voice and data communications as technical, commercial, and social phenomena. Technical issues like voice over IP, voice over ATM, and Quality of Service (QoS) get attention, but the more important lesson here comes from research into the convergence of services and the companies that provide them. There's an excellent glossary, plus scads of references to paper and online resources.