EDITORIAL - Give telecoms the VOIP treatment
There is no doubt in my mind that the wait for voice-over IP is almost at an end. Most vendors will soon have their own fully integrated products, which will transform VOIP from just another emerging technology, that dealers avoid even trying to sell, into one to adopt as quickly as possible.
As corporate intranets become standard, the 'convergence' tag we have all been saddled with probably refers more to the convergence of telecommunications and the internet than telecoms and computing generally.
Most of the large IT installations that bigger companies want are tied to company intranets. As they install these, they inevitably look at how to give users faster internet access - and end up assessing telephone costs. As corporate internet-access budgets increase, so does the pressure to look at cheaper ways of providing that access.
There are other advances in IT communications. Equant this week launched the industry's first integrated and managed global voice and data service using frame relay. The technology is based on using existing routers and the service charges a flat rate for both voice and data calls. This is bound to put pressure on BT to at least consider reducing the cost of phone calls for businesses.
BT cut the price of its Cellstream ATM service by 40 per cent this week, so there may be some movement soon - but it's too much to hope, I suppose, that some of those in government will take a long-term view of business telephone use and see that cheap rates would lead to more interest in VOIP and the whole of the convergence market generally.
Cutting call costs would also stimulate demand in the convergence sectors. In addition, there is now far more software on the market to help that old engine of convergence, the call centre, pick up more followers.
There are low-cost helpdesk packages which users will find particularly attractive if they are considering adding to their numbers of teleworkers.
Running a helpdesk with staff scattered all over the country is no mean feat - safe and stable access to data is essential if you have to make sure your service is seamless and solid. Until now, most of the important purchasers of this type of system have been the big utilities - usually because they were the only one able to afford them.
That is clearly no longer the case. The other technology that can piggyback on convergence, is, of course, video conferencing.
The coming recession, or slowdown, or whatever it will develop into, may create the silver lining in the cloud, which only IT can provide.
Video conferencing is becoming easier to sell. Intel has just introduced an out-of-the-box, room-based desktop video conferencing system. It uses a Pentium II 266MHz PC, so the picture quality is good.
As costs are cut, business travel will be slashed back. At least one frequent traveller I know is considering investing ahead of the rest in a video conferencing suite.
It's not that he thinks it will save that much money - he just refuses to travel cattle class. Others may follow his actions for other reasons.