Convergence creed

It's the millennium buzzword. Your neighborhood paanwalla has heard of it, and he also has his own unique idea about what the heck it means. 

And so, everything that has anything to do with technology gets a convergence tag. And so we have the Convergence Act...

Let's get this straight: this act has little to do with convergence. It's the communications act of 2000, to replace the 1885 anachronism that has ruled our airwaves and WANs and datacom and all the media that did not exist in 1885. 

That is not to trivialize it: it's a big step, and a foundation. It makes life easier for service providers who had to run to different authorities for licenses for a single service business. It brings voice, data and broadcasting under a common regulatory authority, and that is a good thing.

While on the subject, though, why does every government initiative have to have a `regulator' tag, bringing up images of policemen? Have you ever heard of a `facilitator' government authority? 

But the bigger issue is that this is a long way from convergence. That's the coming together of voice, data and video on a common medium, not under a common regulator. Voice and data continue to be separated by government artifices including tariffs and interconnect restrictions and laws. 

My measure is simple: we will have convergence when we no longer have to apply for a hundred separate voice lines for an office, plus a fiber leased line for data (and backup ISDN and DSL). When we are no longer charged for them separately, with tariffs that further separate them. When we don't have to apply for a `hunt-group' number (and wait for a year). When I can take a single high-speed digital line for my company, and dynamically allocate voice channels to a single inward number and multiplex data channels on the same fiber. We'd pay for the bandwidth, whether that channel carries voice or something else. We'll have convergence when we can put a common network inside our own office, attach PCs and VoIP phones as well as external voice and data connections to that network. When we can freely interconnect voice and data networks, and service providers. When your cable provider will give you telephony over that cable, as well as Internet and other data services, along with high-quality digital video and audio. 

This `convergence act' is a big step that should have been taken ten years ago, but the real convergence challenge and opportunity lies ahead.