Network convergence involves the use of several communication modes within the same network. Examples of communication modes include telephone, data and video, all of which coexist efficiently in one network. This principle is alternatively known as media convergence.

The term convergence is basically used in the IT industry to refer to the network architecture and emerging technologies used to merge several communication services into one network. The communication services that used to exist as distinct media are merged on single devices using common interfaces. Convergence primarily involves the combination of computing, broadcasting and telecommunications services into the same digital bit-stream.

Network convergence. Source: Global Times

History of Network Convergence

Communication networks were originally designed to accommodate different communication modes independently. For instance, radio was meant for audio while television was meant for video. Such older types of media served passive audiences who could not make any interactions.

However, the merging of such communication modes such as voice, video and data has enabled interaction where the audiences can become active participants.

The origins of convergence go back to the development of mobile phone and Internet communications. As far as marketing is concerned, however, the term started to be used officially when service providers started offering combined mobile and fixed telephony packages.

Convergence is nowadays largely conducted on the Internet where different types of consumers use such services as Web surfing, texting, streaming media, VoIP, online gaming, videoconferencing and e-commerce.

Regulation

While telecommunication is usually regulated by the state, convergence has made it difficult to put clear-cut regulations on such services as VoIP, which merges telecommunication and information services. Since such technologies are still evolving fairly rapidly, it is not easy for regulating bodies to decide on the most appropriate measures to take and self-regulation is for now, the recommended course of action.

How Convergence Impacts Data Centers and Businesses

Convergence also applies to data centers where it involves the transportation of block-level storage and IP network traffic on a single physical network.

Convergence of storage and IP network traffic on the same Ethernet network is usually connected to server virtualization. It entails more than just merging traffic to lower capital costs.

Data centers can be converged in a number of ways, including:

• Convergence of the entire network, which requires a fully connected network with the capability to handle Fiber Channel and IP traffic on every port.
• Access layer convergence via an external network adapter to reduce necessary switches and cables.
• Layer 2 technology convergence where two physically separate networks are maintained while using the same type of data link (Layer 2) infrastructure to merge different traffic.
• Managed convergence where there is no need of using one physical network but requires the coordination of storage and IP traffic.

As the technology continues to grow, more people are expected to adopt the convergence of physical networks. This does not mean that hardware and software components will be merged.

The convergence of data centers is expected to reduce capital and operating costs because the number of required switch ports and network interfaces will be halved.

Challenges

Although convergence has many advantages, it also poses a number of challenges. The first challenge has to do with bandwidth requirements. The exchange of rich media content and use of more sophisticated applications put significant strain on network resources.

As far as data centers are concerned, indiscriminate application of convergence can lead to operations, availability and security complications. It needs careful designing to help in lowering costs without compromising on these issues.

The entire process of network convergence, right from the design to installation to maintenance, needs careful attention to reap the desired benefits.

Have you heard tech savvy people talking about Web 2.0? What did you suddenly think after hearing it? You couldn’t believe there are versions for web, right? Yes, same as for any other software, web also has versioning. So, what’s new in web 2.0? Answer is; a lot!

[RATINGSYS_RATINGS RATER=VISITOR CATEGORY=0 LABEL=HIDE AVG_NUMBER=SHOW/]

[RATINGSYS_RATINGS RATER=ADMIN CATEGORY=1 LABEL=HIDE AVG_NUMBER=SHOW/]

End-user controlled content for websites is one of the key features in Web 2.0. My Space, Face Book and Hi5 are some of the social networking sites with Web 2.0 features already being included. But using Web 2.0 features for knowledge sharing is some thing, that we all should recognize and appreciate. Wikipedia is all about sharing and developing knowledge.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia collaboratively written by many of its readers. Wikipedia runs on a special kind of website called “Wiki” exclusively developed for Wikipedia by its developers. Most of the users who refer Wikipedia are active users who write new articles and improve existing articles frequently. Any one can freely register with Wikipedia and then, they can start adding new “knowledge” content to Wikipedia with no restrictions.

When Wikipedia articles are written, the authors will have to go through a short introduction on structuring the article and formatting it. This is a must for new article writers since Wikipedia articles should adhere to higher standards and should be genuine. Just to keep the genuineness of content, Wikipedia tracks the changes made by users with the content added or altered, user registration information and user’s IP address. This way, it is easy to track users if there is any dispute over the content added.

Not all your content will stay in Wikipedia forever. Some of your articles may be improved by other users with additional information and references. Sometimes, others can challenge your articles for facts and genuineness. When such a conflict arises, Wikipedia temporary locks the article until the debate is over in the “discussion” tab of the article. Wikipedia also has its reviewers who review the articles for their standards and facts. If you do not mention enough references for what you present in your article, there is a chance that your article or a part of the article is removed.

If you are an early adopter of computers when it first made it’s way to the markets, you maybe familiar with the brand name “digital” or “DEC” (Digital Equipment Corporation). This business was found by two computer professionals called Kenneth Olsen and Harlan Anderson. DEC was peak in its financial wealth during 1980s and then slowly lost the market for competitors.

DEC is the very first company, which commercially promoted Alpha architecture based computers. But with the x86 architecture, they had to struggle to be competitive in the market. However, DEC never under estimated the power of x86. Therefore DEC invested a lot in the upcoming technology just to be beaten by itself.

In the golden era of Alpha architecture, various vendors offered computers from PC to mainframes based on Alpha. Even at this very moment that I’m writing this article, Alpha based systems are being sold mostly by HP and Microway. Nowadays Alpha architecture is more popular among the Linux customers and I’m assuming that, it maybe so, due to Alpha’s old relation to UNIX systems.

According to available statistics from DEC and HP, about 800,000 Alpha based systems (workstations and servers) have been sold until 2001. For this no third party sales are included. The third party sales alone were estimated as 500,000. This shows Alpha’s important contribution to the evolution of IT industry.

Since most popular operating systems eventually targeted x86 architecture, more software were written and most of the business systems were developed to take the advantages of x86. These advantages include knowledge availability, availability of software and hardware and most of all; it was the trend at that time. This created a large vacuum between Alpha systems and regular PC users. Since then Alpha became more used for UNIX like systems. Many people say Alpha architecture had a natural death without much of a ceremony. But some argue that it was buried alive due to business politics. Whatever the case is, Alpha is no more with us. It should have been in the market to be competitive with other architectures and to offer an alternative since Alpha was a bundle of some interesting concepts.