Time is ripe for IP convergence

Companies have been advised to advance plans to move their communications to Internet-based IP services, or risk being left behind by competitors, says Telappliant.

"Results point to a growing need for market education into the host of benefits of running a modern converged network," Christian Harris suggested in a BIOS article.

"It is the industry's responsibility to assist businesses in considering all of the advantages in deploying and maintaining a highly available converged network," he added.

CMS Cameron McKenna and its European alliance firms are due to vote at the beginning of February on plans to converge the network, reports legalweek.com.

The top 10 city firm, along with German counterpart CMS Hasche Sigle, French firm CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre and the seven other member firms, are set to vote to confirm the principles of the convergence plan.

The nine-firm CMS network initially started working on a blueprint to work more closely together last year, increasing links between the network. Although this will exclude profit-sharing, there is likely to be common branding, conflict-checking and an element of cost-sharing.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of In-Dustry Update: SOHO Business VOIP, IP VPN, and Convergence Adoption to its offering, according to Business Wire.

This report provides an update on the level of adoption among US SOHO businesses in the areas of IP VPNs, VOIP, and network convergence. It provides insights into how this segment varies from the rest of the US market.

The integration of voice, data, and video applications into converged networks is also reviewed and compared with US business averages.