New services, new technologies,
new market structures, new business models, and less stringent
regulations. Convergence has brought change not only in the
way we live, but also in the way we think. But then, not everything
is rosy about convergence. The truth, however is, the challenges
have to be met. There is no run-away option.
Medium is certainly not the message.
Not anymore. Today, each message can have its own virtual medium-which
offers the advantages of each traditionally different medium
while removing the limitation of each. The receiver now has
got the capability to "customise" the medium. Till
yesterday, he could only choose.
With digitalization, commonality
among technologies is increasing and the specific characteristics
of traditionally different media (and hence traditionally different
services) are fast becoming a thing of the past. For example,
broadcasting was a transient medium. Storing and retrieving
was certainly not a characteristic of broadcasting. Today, that
is no longer the case. The news capsule at 10.00 can be watched
at 10.30. And it does not have to be stored at your end. Somebody
else does that for you. Similarly, you do not have to sit with
all the newspapers in the last six months for researching on
something. Just go to the web site and search for the items
of your interest.
There are two important identifiable
trends here. One, the selection of media is no longer an either-or.
It is a mix-n-match. Two, the control over the message is steadily
moving from the source to the receiver.
Now, that itself is convergence for many. But then, there is
much more to the word.
Making Some Sense Out of the
Chaos
Convergence is a cool word, with lots of marketing value attached
to it. It looks good in advertisements and sounds impressive
in tag lines. Network, terminal end, telecom, datacom, broadcasting,
IT, voice, data, video, computer telephony… there are as
many definitions as there are stakeholders.
Without going into the specifics like what should be included
and what should not, we give a definition here which is quite
broad, all embracing, and so naturally not very helpful for
those who want to jump to examples. Like modern physicists,
it tries to put a unified picture, a sort of Theory of Everything
(ToE). Yet, one will not be surprised if some still find it
correct yet inadequate, the most common phrase to describe all
these definitions.
Convergence refers to the blurring
of dividing lines among traditionally distinct products and
services, technologies, markets, industries, and regulatory
structures.Page(s) 1 2 3 4
|
