Nov/Dec 2005

Convergence is the new buzzword in the telecommunications market. Sharon Clancy translates

Have you linked up communications between your top executives, your department heads, your site managers, your warehouse teams, your sales staff, your van drivers, your service engineers? Can they pick up any mobile device, wherever they are, and all contact each other or access the same information without having to work out what systems or protocols to use or what technologies they're invoking behind the scenes?

Probably not. This is the real world we're living in, and although that kind of connectivity seems somewhere within reach, most of us are not there yet.

But it's coming - thanks to something called converged communications, or converged mobility. These two terms are generating a lot of excitement at the moment, and it's worth persevering beyond the hype and getting your brain round the concepts behind them, because they really do seem to offer great potential for truly seamless mobile working.

 

Basically, "converged communications" means systems that enable workers to communicate with each other or with their office using whatever technology is most appropriate to their current location. That can include broadband Internet access, wireless 3G, GPRS or GSM, and VoIP.

Lots of businesses, for example, have heard about VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), but may have dismissed it as being suitable only for larger organisations or multinational companies. Well, the good news is that thanks to technology developments, VoIP is now predicted to become increasingly popular, even for mobile working.

VoIP is a nifty piece of technology that has the potential to save a lot of costs, especially for mobile workers. You also may hear it referred to through terms like IP phones, IP telephony and broadband phones.

VoIP allows anyone with a PC, laptop or even Pocket PC and the correct software to communicate with each other over the Internet. It allows you to send and receive telephone and fax calls through the Internet, instead of using your telephone or cell phone network. It doesn't matter how long the call takes, because there are no communications charges, apart from the connection to the Internet.

The only equipment you need is a "softphone" - a software application that works with a headset or plug-in phone that you connect to a PC, laptop or Pocket PC device. You can then send and receive calls over the Internet or a virtual private network. IT managers like softphones because they can be managed and upgraded remotely.

The term "converged communications" also describes a growing trend towards providing single-point access for remote workers, wherever they are located and whatever mobile devices they are using.

Mobility specialist Avaya says that for larger corporations, mobility increasingly means the provision of the tools and applications that employees need in order to do their job, regardless of where they are or the device they are using.

Here's a simple but very practical example of the kind of thing in prospect: a single-number access code to reach individuals or services. Immediately it can eliminate the confusion caused by the need to remember several numbers and log-in passwords.

A "converged network" really just means an arrangement where all a company's offices and mobile workers are connected in a single network. IP telephony converts voice into data packets, so voice and data communications can be combined on one network that can be centrally maintained. As Avaya points out, the cost of inter-branch calls over the public telephone network are eliminated - and that makes IP telephony particularly attractive for companies with an intranet that connects them to satellite offices.

Converged communications can benefit the company's clients, too. Teleware's intelligent Number (iN), for example, is designed so that callers to a company are automatically routed to the person they are seeking, whether that person is in the office, at home or on the road. With iN, each user "pulls" their calls to their current location by dialling into the service from any landline or mobile phone, and entering their user number and password. Calls can be routed automatically to any telephone device that can be dialled directly.

Many people now take seamless roaming between wireless network operators for granted. "There is a growing demand from mobile users for reliable seamless connectivity in real time to all data applications including email, messaging, internet and voice," says Martin Kendrick, managing director of Brand Communications. "Real-time access to content on these devices has been the stumbling block in the past. Users easily got frustrated with loss of connections, and with the need to reset or configure the device manually when selecting the bearer technology."

Client software is the solution, says Kendrick. "With the right client software, users never again have to think about how and when to connect to changing hotspots, LANs, WLANs or multiple mobile carriers; the software will do it all for them automatically, allowing seamless switching between communications protocols."

Brand's latest client software for smartphones does just that, supporting multiple WAN connections. Kendrick explains: "The software ensures that applications such as VoIP do not drop their sessions when the user is moving from a mobile carrier network to third-party WLAN hotspots or any other unrelated network."

"A user could be on a Skype call over WLAN and then move out of the coverage of the hotspot and have the call immediately and transparently 'transitioned' to a 3G, EDGE, WiMAX or, through the inbuilt PPPoE stack, to IPWireless broadband network. And none of this would mean dropping the call or losing even a word in the conversation."

You might not be familiar with all these terms, and you probably don't need to be. Suffice it to say that the technology is now there to pull together these varying communications technologies, and do it seamlessly. The future is here.

Graham Bevington, EMEA managing director for comms giant Mitel, echoes that thought. "Connecting home-based or remote staff with the central office is becoming more common as the UK embraces newer technologies that bring solid business benefits," he says. "Armed with a laptop and a broadband connection, our customers can make calls as if they were at their office desk and on the same extension line."

IP service providers still have to convince customers that reliability and security will not be compromised in switching to IT telephony. One solution, says Avaya, is to piggyback an IP solution on to an existing PBX system.

Reliability and quality are being addressed. Timico, for example, guarantees quality of service for its broadband applications to SMEs. "Downloading a large file or sending an email can kill a voice-biased VoIP service," explains Mike Webb, managing director. But Timico says it can guarantee service quality because it controls its own infrastructure, so can offer reliable throughput for low-bandwidth data traffic.

Wi-Fi update

Converged communications are also being hailed as the next step in broadening the appeal of public-access Wi-Fi services such as BT Openzone. Openzone now offers over 7,930 hotspots locations in the UK and Ireland, including 700 hotels, 70 airports and 19 UK railway stations, plus McDonald's restaurants and RoadChef and Welcome Break motorway service stations.

BT reports some impressive growth statistics for its Openzone service. In the 12 months to November 2005, sales of vouchers to access the service were 134 per cent higher and the number of Openzone sessions and minutes used per session were over three times higher than in the previous year.

Customers can pay via subscription or on a pay-as-you-go basis. For large data downloads, Wi-Fi is often cheaper than GPRS, points out BT, because it is charged by the minute (between 7p and 20p depending on the contract), and not by the megabyte.

BT Datazone is the latest service: it offers a combined tariff that allows users to connect via Wi-Fi, 3G or GPRS connection. Abroad, customers can use 3G or a Wi-Fi hotspot.

"BT Datazone provides the key to truly mobile working," says Chris Clark, chief executive of converged mobility operations for BT Retail. "IT enables people to download files, check email or access their corporate network from virtually anywhere in the UK and abroad.

"Bringing these technologies together means you no longer have to choose one over the other when deciding how to keep your employees connected. It also has the added benefit of providing companies with tighter cost control over their remote working solutions."

Users need to a buy a Globetrotter Quad card (£270) to benefit from the £49 per month consolidated billing, which includes 4,000 Wi-Fi minutes and 75Mb of data. Separate packages cost £25 per month for 4,000 BT Openzone minutes, and £10 per month for 250 minutes.

Free-access Wi-Fi is still available - if you know where to look. Irish company free-hotspot.com launched its European service in September in London and Paris, and has published a directory of 6,000 free hotspots throughout the world. There are already 139 sites in the UK, 29 in London. The company does not charge users or the public place offering the service. Instead, it plans to recoup its investment via online marketing programs.