Introduction in Software

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Lately, the hype in the industry is the convergence of the Voice and Data transmission systems This is nothing new because we have been trying to integrate voice and data for years However, a subtle difference exists with today s convergence scenarios:

In the beginning, the convergence operation mandated that data be made to look like voice; then it could be transmitted on the same circuitry Circuit-switched voice and data used the age old techniques of a network founded in voice techniques Now, the convergence states that voice will look like data and the two can reside in packetized form on the same networks and circuitry Circuit switching technologies are making way for the packet switching technologies

These changes take advantage of the idle space in voice conversations, where it has been determined that during a conversation, only about 10 25 percent of the circuit time is actually utilized to carry the voice The rest of the time, we are in idle condition by either of the following: 1 Listening to the other end 2 Thinking of a response to a question 3 Breathing between our words In this idle capacity, the compression of voice stream can facilitate less circuit usage and encourage the use of a packetized form of voice Data networking is more efficient because we have been using data packeting for years through packets, frames or cells The use of a packet switching transmission system enables us to interleave voice and data packets (video, too) where there is idle space As long as a mechanism exists to recoup the information and reassemble it on the receiving end, it can be a more efficient use of bandwidth It is just this bandwidth utilization and effective saving expectations that have driven the world into a frenzy over packetizing voice and interleaving it on a data network, especially the Internet A note on the cost of voice and data communications is probably in order here (It is the opinion of this author) Currently the drive is to get free voice on a data network In the early years of data communications, data always was given a free ride on the voice networks Telecommunications managers diligently fine-tuned their voice networks and allowed the data to run over the voice networks during the off-hours (after hours) This use of the circuitry was paid for through the dial-up voice communications This method of providing data over the voice networks crept into some of the business hours when real-time communications were needed However, many times, the voice tie

lines and leased lines (point-to-point circuits) usually had some reserve capacity Therefore, the data was placed on the point-to-point circuits that were justified by voice (History!) As the competition in the telecommunications market heated up, we saw the costs for a minute of long distance drop from $50 65 per minute in North America down to an average cost today of about $05 10 per minute This significant drop in cost has been the result of competition and technological enhancements At the same time, the data convergence took advantage of this falling cost factor Meanwhile, the data was migrating from a point-to-point technique on a dial-up connection to a more robust packet form of transmission, using X25 or IP packet switching techniques The cost per bit of data transmission was dropping rapidly Then the introduction of the Internet came to the commercial world With the commercialization of the Internet in the early 1990s, the culture and the cost factors changed at an escalating pace The cost of data transmission has been touted as being free on the Internet; the only cost being the access fees However, the cost of data networking has been rapidly declining on private line (Intranets), drawing the attention from both a public and a private networking focus This convergence has everyone looking for free voice by interleaving voice on the data networks I agree with the scenario and would not attempt to detract from that goal However, the other side of the equation is that the circuit switched networks are continually driving the cost per minute for voice down Closely aligned to this paradigm is the fact that the North American long distance companies are now offering specials in their service For example, in 1999 many of the carriers offered $05 per minute on nights and weekends, another carrier offered Fridays for free, and so on Looking closely at their advertisements, we see a culture changing slowly, moving its way into the industry More of the ads state not quite free, but almost, of free weekends, or free Fridays It is this shift that makes one wonder if free voice on the data networks is as much a deal as we think Alternatively, it may be the movement to draw the crowd in I believe that voice will be free after the turn of the century with the strategy being give them the voice, they will buy the data! However, we have to wait and see how this plays out