Arrival
of Convergence
The year is 2005. Ramdin Chacha's vision comes true. The Internet
has expanded his travel and export business not only to many
cities in India, but also across many parts of the world. Luckily,
he kept equipping himself with the latest. Being technology-savvy,
he familiarized with mobile, PC, and the Internet keeping pace
with the time.
Life improved
but, as usual,
progress brought in its toe its own problems. The technology
and Chacha have kept pace meeting the new challenges. Chacha's
fondness of communication tools helps him in zIPing ahead, despite
such problems. And also to reap full benefits out of the convergence-be
it convergence of fixed-mobile or that of computers-communications-content
technologies.
WAP: A |
The IP
World
The "cells" or packets of data have changed the way
telecom works. It made multimedia applications like Video-on-Demand
(VoD) possible. Packets allow multiple users to share a single
communication channel, resulting in more efficient use of bandwidth.
Voice can be also sent as packets of data. The success of the
Internet has put Internet Protocol (IP) in the forefront. The
open architecture of IP is transparent to standards and back
haul methods. Enabling not only voice and data, but also fixed
and mobile telephony convergence. As the new 3rd Generation
(3G) wireless technologies are also planning to use IP, it is
emerging as the ubiquitous standard unifying the communication
infrastructure in order to meet the multimedia needs of new
millenium.
IP-based
Wireless: For Mobile Multimedia in the Pocket
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-a global open protocol operating
with any wireless standard-enables users to access/browse the
Internet and utilize on-line services through their mobile phones
with limited four or five lines displays. WAP scales down the
information to make it suitable for a mobile phone. It will
help operators and content providers to build small applications
meeting emerging needs of mobile user like Ramdin Chacha. Its
various applications include messaging, information services,
e-commerce, and on-line banking.
WAP, an important 3G tool, has been tailored to fit a range
of different types of portable devices from mobile phones to
personal digital assistants and pocket computers-the devices
now becoming "information compatible". WAP enables
mobile phones with limited displays to browse the Internet.
Bluetooth
to Unify
And the complementary wireless technology like "bluetooth"-named
after the tenth century viking king Harald Bluetooth known for
unifying Denmark-is designed to replace the cable connection
between the computing devices/peripherals and communication
devices (laptops, digital assistants, printers, mobile phones,
home appliances) by universal open-standard low-cost wireless
links. Using the 2.45 GHz band, it works within about 10 metre
range. One could take a picture with digital camera and send
it wirelessly using bluetooth link to a mobile phone, onward
to a receiver which downloads the picture on to a PC. One could
even pay for a can of Coke from the vending machine using the
mobile.
Personal
Co-pilot: Moving the Jam
So in 2005, when most metros' traffic speed averages 5 kilometre
per hour, Chacha's car may be stuck in the middle of a traffic
jam. Yet his cellphone keeps him connected and moving with the
world. He calls the airlines to change his flight schedule.
He accesses the Internet. He calls his foreign partners and
has a videoconference to move ahead. It can even act as "personal
traffic co-pilot".
Truly in sync with the world…of the new millenium! n