IT Management In A World Of Convergence

A few days ago, I listened intently to a live Web broadcast--a prepared presentation to a preselected 100-person audience--coming from the small, crackly speaker of my trusted ThinkPad. Although the broadcast, in content, was quite exceptional, it was marred by constant buffering issues that sometimes took more than a minute to resolve. For much of the presentation, my T1 line appeared to deliver worse performance than a vintage modem.

There was little IT could do to speed up the situation (and the company putting on the presentation claimed to have a direct T3 line). But the incident reminded me that Web convergence--the merging of voice, video and data over a common network--marks the start of an entirely new era of management needs, a paradigm shift that will require IT to understand how to manage what's outside of the firewall as effectively as what is on the inside. Convergence will force IT to confront a variety of issues related to service levels and reliability of the public Internet if they are to deliver connectivity and communications at the level of quality required by the business.

Convergence is happening faster than many had expected. Already there are more than 1,000 24-hours-a-day radio stations broadcasting on the Web. A recent InformationWeek study found that more than 60 percent of IT managers expect reliable convergence of voice, data and video on their networks within the next three years. One example of this will be universal messaging services that integrate voice and e-mail, among other things, letting employees have seamless access to information across a variety of platforms. And perhaps the most hyped convergence application, IP telephony, is taking off. Even before the Bay/Nortel deal, Bay signaled its interest in IP telephony by acquiring NetServe, a European IP telephony vendor.

Though convergence will certainly enhance the quality of service to the user, managing it will be anything but simple. In the early stages of convergence, IT won't be able to support its customers with textbook answers to problems. Understanding and knowing the specifications of each user's hardware and software will become even more critical. Older applications, like Microsoft SMS, which allow the remote deployment and monitoring of software application on a desktop, will become increasingly important for supporting users if thin-client architectures fail to take hold. Creating standards for support issues also is critical to supporting users on converged networks and appliances. Tools like Remedy Corp.'s Action Request System and ARWeb help link ERP-based asset management directly to the help desk, facilitating rapid deployment and adaptability of applications throughout an enterprise in evolving convergence environments.

Convergence also will change the way IT approaches bandwidth and usage metering issues. Ensuring bandwidth availability and being able to understand the exact way it's being used will help IT plan for requirements. One vendor, Xacct Technologies, is confronting the mediation portion of the billing and metering process, creating a tool that takes IP information and lets carriers bill for virtually any service on a usage basis. Tools like this also will find space inside the convergence enterprise, helping IT managers monitor, report and prepare for individual and group network use.

Ultimately, IT will be responsible for ensuring the performance and availability of convergence applications and tools over their networks. The best IT groups will proactively manage convergence by identifying and implementing technologies and resources that fit the strategic needs of the business.

Jason Busch is a consultant at Northeast Consulting Resources Inc., a management consulting firm with practices in business and IT strategy. Please direct comments to fmcolumn@ncri.com.