[October 7, 2004]

Edholm Sees Convergence in Our Industry�s Future

BY JOHANNE TORRES

Nortel Network�s CTO & VP of Network Architecture, Phil Edholm kicked off yesterday�s keynote session which took place in the Crystal room of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles during the third day of Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO. He began his excitingly detailed presentation by describing how he sees the VoIP industry in the next 5-10 years. 

His vision�one he described as high on convergence. He foresees a definite dissolution of distance and location, thanks to �presence,� made possible by VoIP-enabled communications. He also sees a great expansion and creation of completely integrated communication devices; hyper-interactivity; and VoIP-enabled �personal agents.�

He continued by emphasizing the need of our industry developers and VoIP enablers of reaching their goals of reducing operational communication costs and at the same time, rapidly increase revenue. He described today�s communication systems as a group of multiple separate networks enabled by a mixture of disparate communication services in place. He noted that this will all change once corporations begin incorporating VoIP technologies and devices�which will make all data and voice applications available and organized into a single converged network.

He believes that the merge of voice over IP-enabled devices with available mobile networks will be very big in the coming years. �This will eventually benefit all remote workers in the world in a big way, and will allow them to be more productive because these devices will integrate seamless mobility across all environments,� he stated.

Edholm ended his presentation by assuring attendees that today, developers of VoIP technology services and products were working hard to solve issues that worry early adopters�such as security and reliability.