PUBLISHER’S OUTLOOK
Where's
The Productivity?
Rich Tehrani, Publisher
Not long ago, Rich asked, Wheres the
convergence? Now Rich tackles the productivity
issue, challenging facile assumptions that
communications solutions inevitably enhance
productivity. According to Rich, productivity
enhancements may remain latent, emerge gradually, or
arise with astonishing swiftness, depending on how
communications solutions are deployed. The difference
between pent-up and unleashed potential is
environmental.
TOM KEATING'S CC:
Help!
Universal Translator Required
Tom Keating, Executive Technology Editor
Who among us has not felt the pain of
miscommunications? Certainly not stalwart IT staffers
charged with running help desks. All the confusions
and misunderstandings of an ever-more technological
age serve only to intensify the help desks woes.
But IT staff can take heart since a variety of help
desk software tools are entering the fray, allowing
better management of support issues.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Letters To The
Editor
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FEATURES
2001
Buyer's Guide
DEPARTMENTS
Analytical Views: Content
Vs. Value
Brian Strachman, Cahners In-Stat Group
Could recent stock market
paroxysms be the result, at least in part, of a basic
misunderstanding: the tendency to focus too much on
content delivery as the be-all and end-all of
communications? Content delivery is, after all, but
one link in a chain of value. Other links, often
overlooked, include enterprise communications
infrastructure and value-added applications. Perhaps a
more balanced view, one that would assimilate all of
these value-chain elements, would lead to a better
appreciation of the true promise of communications
solutions, and even more stable stock evaluations!
Inside Networking: Seeing
The Light
Tony Rybczynski, Nortel Networks
IT management is
often in the dark when it comes to fiber optics. IT
may even be unaware of which fiber optic options
really matter to the enterprise. In this article, Tony
describes the latest developments in the convergence
of IP, Ethernet, and optics, how they relate to
enterprise networking, and how these developments may
lead to dramatic simplification, lower total cost of
ownership, and the emancipation of resources for
strategic investments.
On The Horizon: The
Future Of Live Video
Brough Turner, NMS Communications
Business video applications may have been spinning
their wheels, but theyre getting traction now,
thanks to convergence on IP. While latency and
bandwidth remain issues, video over IP has already
reached the point where room conferencing and
meetings-at-a-distance make sense. And soon, video
applications beyond video conferencing will come to
light, with the rise of broadcast, training, and
remote monitoring applications.
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