The demand for Triple Play over IP for data, voice and video convergence is now a basic necessity for many customers. There is virtually no limit for the quest of convergence. The convergence for various communications originated from enterprise network and telecommunications functions will create new business applications. It is an issue that enterprises must plan for to keep their data systems and networks on track to make the full leap to information globalization, as technologies and public and private infrastructures modernize and expand.

Recent developments in communications are towards mobility and guaranteed high bandwidths. IP convergence has grown beyond just data/voice/video to encompass services, applications and even the whole enterprise and telecommunication networks. Therefore, the enterprise network provider must also assume the role of ISP in order to support multiple requirements for converged communications system. Carrier-class Ethernet, IPTV and next-generation videoconferencing, IMS and fixed-mobile convergence, along with multiservice edge technologies are all becoming necessities for network providers to offer in order to qualify as a total IP solution provider.

For new deployments, the best solution to achieve a truly end-to-end communications network is to build an IP-based network with total convergence of telecom and enterprise systems ensuring seamless applications and services from a single network platform. Under these circumstances, the risk that your enterprise network cannot match or migrate to the newly built network infrastructure, known as infrastructural risk, is avoided.

More and more services are being directed to the users' desktop. As the network evolves, even more services will be available that are dependent on a convergence of telecom and enterprise networks. The demand on bandwidth and speed in enterprise networks is driving the need to merge with telecom networks. This will turn virtual private networks into actual private enterprise networks. Network branch management through an ever-present, globalized telecom network will offer IT managers much greater flexibility and accessibility. This is an opportunity for telecom operators to work closely with IP solutions providers to develop future technological breakthroughs.

All IT managers, business owners and company administrators should pay serious attention to this trend in order to prepare their organizations to reap the benefits of the technological advancements made possible by converged networks. When telecom and enterprise networks merge into one, the newly evolved networks will become more able than ever to deliver added value to the business and to its customers, which in turn will make future profits dependent on converged network architectures.

Enterprises should carefully reconsider their network's current and future requirements in light of the opportunity provided by such converged networks, paying attention to the IT investment's future return possibilities.

Seamless upgrades are now a factor of compatibility between telecom and enterprise networks. To achieve a converged telecom and enterprise network, enterprise customers need a network provider capable and experienced in both the telecom and networking markets. Many multinational enterprise network providers, no matter how big, might find themselves incapable of meeting the challenge of tomorrow's fully converged networks. Localized network specialists who are currently unable to offer total network solutions will find the future market even harsher.

Currently, there are only a handful of telecom network providers in the world capable of delivering total telecom solutions, and the number of enterprise network providers capable of delivering end-to-end IP solutions is even fewer.

We need IP network providers who have experience in both the telecom and enterprise markets to achieve convergence in telecom and enterprise networks. This is especially true for network projects in new buildings and office park developments. In the early stage of network construction at a new site, we need to design and deploy a network with full convergence of telecom and enterprise data systems right from the start, thus eliminating the threat of infrastructural risk.