IDG News Service,
Buenos Aires Bureau
BUENOS AIRES –
The
convergence of networks and services holds promise, but it is still far from
being universally deployed, said Gartner Inc. senior analyst Juan Ignacio
Fernández, at a meeting here on Monday. He added that convergence will
eventually lead to the universal use of IP (Internet Protocol) for all services -- telephony, Internet,
audio and video --, but that for now lower complexity products such as Internet
call waiting, SMS (Short Message System) and e-mail forwarding to wireless
devices constitute the bulk of current convergent services.
Speaking to an
audience of Argentine telecommunication executives, Fernández said that there
has been too much hype around convergence, and that there is some resistance to
it in several markets. Globally, the most successful deployments have been made
in Europe and Asia, while North America is still investing on traditional TDM
(time division multiplex) networks, used mainly for telephony and conventional
data transmission. The situation is similar in Latin America, although there
some signs of change here, the speaker said.
However, the
increasing change in network usage pattern (predominance of data transmission)
is gradually changing the focus towards full IP network implementations. When
fully deployed these networks allow all sorts of advanced technologies: IP
Centrex, IP trunking and VoIP (voice over IP) VPN. Centrex is a technology that
allows the digitizing of all internal and external telephone traffic in an
enterprise (including the extensions), using a section of the telephone company
exchange as a private branch exchange. IP trunking allows the transmission of
IT packets (including telephony and video) through IP backbones, and VPN
(virtual private networks) allow the creation of multiple private networks over
a public network system.
In Latin
America, these technologies are slowly taking hold. In Brazil, the new telecom
carriers are contemplating using softswitch technology in order to expand their
coverage area, without deploying new physical networks. Full market
deregulation is expected in Brazil by year end. IP Centrex is being used in
Mexico and Argentina, and VoIP is growing significantly in Colombia and
Venezuela, according to a Gartner report.
Argentine
networks are recent and still underutilized, so this is preventing the
migration to convergent technologies for now, Fernández said.
Some of the
participants added that the present economic situation is a major deterrent to
further capital expenditure on networks. Besides, one of the participants said,
most enterprises here feel that the increased efficiencies provided by IP
networks have a low priority compared with the need to reduce costs and
expenditure in other areas of the business.
According to
Fernández, to assure the success of convergent networks an effort should be
made towards standardization and a better definition of what new generation
networks are, and what they should do. For this, vendors and operators have
created standard bodies such as the International Softswitch Forum (ISF) and
the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSSF), that are creating standards and
network architecture models.
"We can
consider that we are in the first generation of Unified (Convergent)
Communications", Fernández said. In about one or two years there will be a
second generation, with a much broader market deployment and acceptance,
especially in Europe, Asia and a few Latin American markets.
Gartner
Group, in Stamford, Connecticut, can be reached at +1-203-316-1111, or via the
Web at http://www.gartner.com/ . In Buenos Aires, Gartner can be reached at +54
11 6314 1024.
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