Technology Convergence and Business Efficiency
Can we still draw a line between what is considered information technology (IT) and what is classified as telecommunications technology? Clearly not.
Since the day UCLA student Charley Kline, with the supervision of Internet pioneer Leonard Kleinrock, sent the five characters: L, O, G, I and N, to another computer in Stanford Research Institute (SRI) 300 miles away, we have had trouble separating the two.
The SRI computer crashed when the character G was received. However, that October day is considered to be the start of the Internet.
Look at Intel, for example, which is known for the speed of its Pentium processors. In reality, the company has been in data communications for quite some time.
At the recent 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France, Intel disclosed the work on its Hermon strategy. In a nutshell, Hermon consists of XScale processors for cellular phones and smartphones that incorporate support for WCDMA and GPRS. Again, this clearly represents Intel's expansion into the world of telecommunications.
It is not surprising that the phrase "technology convergence" is frequently used in both industries. It is said that today's technologies are the result of a series of convergencies between previously disparate technologies.
The good news is that convergent technology means increased efficiency. Individuals, businesses, governments and others should seek convergent technology to improve their performance, reduce costs, and increase productivity.
In business, a good example of convergent technology may be the vehicle-tracking system, which is commonly used by companies with large fleets. Couriers, taxi companies, trucking companies, garages, towing trucks, you name it...
Let us take a closer look at a trucking company with a fleet of hundreds of trucks. Ideally, when a truck has been fully loaded it travels from one point to another, to save fuel, time and energy. What if, after unloading half of its cargo at point B a truck had a payload of half its capacity for point D.
Because the truck was not scheduled to stop at point C, the driver would probably not be aware that in fact cargo at point C was waiting to be picked up and transported to point D.
This is a very simple example of what a vehicle-tracking system can do to boost efficiency. With a vehicle-tracking system -- which relies on mobile terminals installed in each truck -- the company would have knowledge of the location of its trucks and how much payload they were carrying.
There are other things that a vehicle-tracking system can do. If a cab stays in one point for many hours and there is no radio communication with the base, something bad may have happened to the driver and the taxi company can dispatch a car to the location to find out.
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