Technology Convergence Is Vital For Business Agility: Frost & Sullivan

It is challenging for businesses to accomplish what is needed today with yesterday’s information and communications technology (ICT). To maximise agility and productivity in the current and future climates, businesses will require an integrated convergence of network, wireline and wireless access and applications.

Businesses that ignore advancements in technology will struggle as they work harder and faster in an attempt to reach performance levels that are outside old technologies’ capabilities. In time, these antiquated technologies become an impediment; and worse, these businesses find themselves at a competitive disadvantage to those businesses that routinely progress with technology.

Furthermore, network traffic has its own unique patterns of highs and lows that require network planning based on peak demand across all traffic types—voice, data and video. Sub-optimal preparation and traffic management contribute to unused or dormant capacity. While performance quality is suitable, the enterprise will be overspending.

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To address this issue, network convergence combines all traffic types onto a single network to improve bandwidth utilisation that, in turn, contributes to optimised network expenditures. A lynchpin to effective network convergence is dynamic bandwidth allocation; this allows multiple traffic types to coexist while governing total bandwidth consumption and also maintaining performance standards for each traffic type.

Potential cost savings with convergence does not end with optimised bandwidth utilisation. Other direct cost savings materialise with service companions to a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) network, such as session initiation protocol (SIP) Trunking and mobile integration.

“A driving force of convergence is simplification,” said Stratecast Vice President of Research Michael Suby. “Through simplification, obsolete and expensive technologies are retired, moving your business forward without risking the bottom line. Convergence represents a compelling value proposition.”

Information should not be stagnant for any business; it must flow fluidly among those that can act on it to drive the business forward.

“Convergence helps businesses stay ahead of the game,” said Suby. “Few, if any, businesses can thrive with older technologies, and depending on your market situation, you could leapfrog your competitors.”