Convergence, says Michael Suby of Frost & Sullivan, is about transformation and possibilities. A number of current technology trends leverage the power of convergence and point the way toward further possibilities in the future.

In the fourth in a series of Sprint-sponsored convergence white papers, Suby addresses three of those trends: Device proliferation and personalization, cloud computing, and social networking. More...

Maybe it's time to finally retire the term "dumb pipes" to describe the public network. In our business, as you can imagine, we aren't particularly fond of it.

But in the cloud era, it's such an inaccurate description that it's like calling something that you like "groovy." Unless you're Austin Powers, that just won't fly. More...

What a tangled web we weave, when at first we try to receive … content for a single web page from 150 different content servers. Maybe I am just noticing this more lately, given that the hard drive in my laptop is reaching capacity, but the web is becoming far too fragmented. One central tenet of convergence is that a single network platform can be used for voice, video, and data. 

As the web becomes more multimedia based, that means a single web page might be serving up HTML data from one server, a video advertisement from another, and a VoIP-based customer service chat box from yet another server—not to mention all the other mashed-up content on a typical page today. More...

Before you can make an informed decision about return on investment (ROI) for a Unified Communications implementation, it is essential to know the scope of that investment. Obviously, it is more than just the up-front cost of the equipment you buy for a premises-based solution, or the ongoing cost of a hosted solution. More...

Does it surprise you as much as it does us that nearly one-fifth of enterprises are not even considering Unified Communications and collaboration technology now, or planning to in the next three years?

That data point leaped out at us in a piece that Melanie Turek of Frost & Sullivan wrote over at NoJitter, based on a survey that her organization did of 200 top executives. Nineteen percent of the respondents said they aren’t considering UC at all and have no plans to deploy it in the next three years. More...

One of the most expensive budget items in IT is the need to support a full-blown operating system on each and every desktop PC. Because every application installed on a given desktop can have a unique, unanticipated effect on that one device, the havoc that can be unleashed across the whole of the enterprise can sprout in an almost random, chaotic fashion. More...

The explosive growth of the tablet over the past year is well documented, but until recently, I never believed that tablets could eventually replace laptops altogether. Today however, in this cloud-computing era, I am starting to see why more and more people may eventually forego a laptop and use only two devices: a smartphone and a tablet. More...

To cloud – or not to cloud – may be an easy decision at times, depending on your preferences, the enterprise’s culture, and the applications in question. For a business, Unified Communications (UC) is ideal candidate for a first move into the cloud. However, the decision-making process could be time consuming due to the nature and importance of UC.

To me, nothing beats a handy chart which lays out the pros and cons of each approach, without biases. Gary Audin’s latest TechNote, Deploying UC Apps: CPE or Cloud, provides such a chart, comparing two obvious choices to delivering the features and benefits of UC. It’s a quick read, comparing the two alternatives side-by-side. More...

Enterprise network experts are familiar with the term Virtual Private Networks, but that term refers to the concept of making non-private networks seem “virtually” private. Now, we are seeing a new kind of virtual network, which is truly virtual as it is created entirely within software. More...

In focusing on the enterprise, it is becoming increasingly apparent that consumer technology drives the enterprise. The BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) movement was forced upon enterprises as a result of the popularity of the widely copied Apple iPhone. Now, I am spotting a BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud) movement, which is destined to have a similar impact. More...