Corporates ride high on convergence

Be it IP telephony or Web conferencing, the Indian corporate sector is upbeat about the latest in convergence technology, finds Megha Banduni.

In the last few years, convergence has been the most talked about thing in the Indian IT market. Lower costs are among the foremost advantages of converged networks, along with the facility to have voice and data on a single network.

The definition of convergence has expanded beyond VoIP to include technologies such as Web conferencing. Today, the Indian market is primed for next-generation IP-based technology. Users are waking up to the fact that the IP-based technology can deliver substantial cost savings and converged voice and data network services.

Though many are still talking about VoIP, the next level of integration that combines voice, data and video in a triple play has already been making the list of many CIOs and CTOs as they craft their strategic game plans. Customers who are currently on traditional systems are migrating to new technologies like IP telephony and other forms of convergence. The IP telephony market alone, as per Frost & Sullivan (F&S), was worth around $60 million in 2004. This segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 35 percent over the next couple of years. As per F&S projections, the number of IP ports shipped will exceed that of TDM ports by 2007.

The need for convergence

The reason why organisations are looking at such technologies is quite simple. Applications such as enterprise-wide mobility, voice and video mail messaging; Web conferencing; broadcasting through IP phones; and integrated access to voice, data and video are helping employees to be more responsive to customers and more productive. Corporates are also looking at issues such as the optimal use of their existing infrastructure, quality of service, a richer user experience and reduced costs.

Says Rajendra Deshpande, CTO, Intelenet Global Services, “What is relevant from the adoption point of view is that these technologies are cost-effective, thereby allowing a company to achieve organisational efficiencies. Also, a single project might be executed across multiple locations rather than from a single geography. To meet these challenges, it is essential that the employees across the organisation collaborate more efficiently to complete a specific set of tasks.”

According to research by Gartner, convergence in the enterprise is happening rapidly on both the wired and wireless LAN, reducing network and device costs, and driving new capabilities for voice and data access across wired and wireless networks. More than 50 percent of employees conduct business away from the office, and voice is a primary business application for these mobile workers.

Aamer Azeemi, GM, Global IT, Wipro Technologies, looks at it as the natural evolution of the network towards convergence. “The network today is becoming intelligent. We have already adopted VoIP and triple play, and use Web conferencing to some extent as well. We have noticed a tremendous increase in user productivity as a result of the deployment of these technologies. Issues that we look at before deploying any new technology are optimising the existing infrastructure, quality of service, enhancing user experience, improving productivity and ultimately bringing down cost.”

Notes Seshaiah Amisagadda, Head, IT Infrastructure, Capgemini: “We have already deployed some of these technologies. Before adopting convergence in an organisation, certain points need to be considered—ease of deployment, ease of use for end-users, and cost-effectiveness. The organisation benefits from such technologies in terms of saving significant time, travel and money.”

IP telephony applications such as Web conferencing, unified messaging, call management, information retrieval and presence management are important tools that can help businesses improve their bottom-line by improving the flow of communication, thereby increasing efficiency, productivity and profitability while improving customer satisfaction.

Intelligent communication

Many organisations deploying converged applications are demanding intelligent communication to seamlessly integrate communication capabilities and business processes. Customers today are investing in best-of-breed solutions that are based on open standards and are interoperable with products from other vendors. With the dawn of the virtual business, organisations are demanding collaborative solutions such as meet-me conferencing and audio-video conferencing that will help them take decisions in real-time.

For instance, Intelenet employees use Web conferencing primarily for interacting with their colleagues and counterparts based out of the US and Britain. In this manner, the company stays connected with employees who are travelling on work.

“Interestingly, several customer interactions and training modules are imparted using this method of communication. We see tremendous benefits in the adoption of new technologies such as Web conferencing and VoIP. However, like any new technology, adoption will be a gradual process as every organisation weighs the pros and cons of each technology before adopting the same. There are other issues as well such as peak hour traffic on the network. However, with the rapid innovations made in the telecom space, all these issues will definitely be addressed over a period of time,” adds Deshpande.

It’s not only enterprises that are looking for such solutions. SMBs are also looking to integrate voice and video collaborative sessions into their business process applications such as CRM and ERP. An ever-growing number of SMBs are adopting broadband Internet, enabling them to take advantage of the benefits of the new generation of communication technology.

States Yogesh Bijlani, Country Head, Indian Subcontinent, Veraz Networks, “Convergence exists in varying degrees in most organisations. More often, factors like application delivery cost, reliability, ease of use, and multi-vendor inter-operability are the triggers that usually accelerate adoption. As IP applications serve the nomadic and desk workers’ needs for communication, information and transactions, the benefits of increasing work productivity and profits become quantifiable and evident.”

Concerns remain

Though it is certain that users will benefit from convergence, concerns remain. Comments Pradeep Malhotra, VP and MD, Continuous Computing, “Primary concerns include reliable access, security and return on investment (ROI). Customers project the volatility of their local area networks upon the promises of next generation enterprise IP networks. In doing so, they are very sensitive about the quality and continuity of service due to the precedent set by legacy circuit switching networks. Security will be a concern, but less so in the enterprise scenario. Companies are experienced in securing their internal LANs and can leverage their existing security infrastructures to protect next-generation IP networks. With reference to ROI, the transition to next-generation IP requires a significant initial investment, and it is often difficult to articulate the benefits of the transition in dollar figures.”

Adds Amit Sheth, the IT Head of Sun Pharmaceuticals, “Government regulations, availability of infrastructure and manpower, emergence of competing technologies and the adoption rate among organisations are some the challenges I foresee. However, with growing awareness and the commitment of decision-makers to achieve a higher growth rate, more organisation will adopt these technologies.”

Regulations have comprised one of the biggest hurdles in adopting these technologies. “We would like to extend these technologies beyond the office environment to the users who are working either from home or outside our intranet. However, there are some regulations in India which prevent us from doing this currently...we are hopeful that these bottlenecks will be resolved soon,” says Azeemi.

Issues that must be addressed include inter-connectivity of the PSTN-private network which will facilitate optimum utilisation of resources and derive the maximum from what the technology can deliver. The second challenge is the reliability of last-mile connectivity which will ensure higher uptime of systems and lower revenue loss. The third is the inter-operability issue, which will give greater choice to customers so that they do not get stuck with a particular vendor.

According to a study by market research firm iLocus, the Indian VoIP market is set to account for around 61 percent of the world-wide international long distance traffic by 2007. In addition, with the growing number of BPO and MNC offshore centres in India, IP-based technology adoption will increase, making it one of the dominant technologies of the future.

Security is the biggest worry

With technologies like VoIP and Web conferencing, there are certain concerns such as data and voice security, issues of long distance calls fraud, and hacking. Since the network is shared with IP phones, safeguards have to be put in place to protect against someone hacking from the voice network into the data network or vice versa.

According to a new survey from AT&T in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), over two-thirds of corporate executives view ensuring reliable network security as the most critical factor in the successful implementation of a converged IP network. More than 60 percent of all executives surveyed say that processing customer data online exposes their firms to electronic security breaches more than any other type of vulnerability. Yet three years from now 62 percent of the respondents expect to have implemented IP through most or all of their organisations.

Respondents reveal a clear link between their firms’ technology-related goals and their chief information vulnerabilities. Among the benefits of convergence, the enabling of deeper electronic collaboration with customers as well as remote and mobile working are also prime areas of network vulnerability.

The survey reveals that enterprise security strategies are evolving, with some organisations looking to complement the localised approach with a more flexible and centralised form of security that enables extensive electronic collaboration with customers and suppliers.

Explains Malhotra, “Users and service providers alike are concerned about the loss of service due to Internet routing problems or attacks by hackers, as well as loss of privacy due to the perceived ease of virtual eavesdropping and theft by unscrupulous individuals using a VoIP service. The good news is that a lot of resources are already being put into securing IP traffic in general, and the resulting developments can be leveraged to secure VoIP networks. Increasing security requires a well-planned management framework that includes solid strategies, processes and procedures, and a technology capable of effectively protecting VoIP communication.”

Convergent technologies are seen by IT heads as a means to enhance competitive advantage and help them achieve strategic business objectives. The goal of enabling a collaborative enterprise where information is seamlessly shared with customers, employees and other stakeholders will not be denied—no matter what the hurdles.

megha@expresscomputeronline.com