Panasonic joins convergence fray

Looking to carve out its own piece of the convergence pie, Panasonic has launched a new Communications Product Group (CPG) focused on voice and data solutions for the consumer and SME markets, reports ARNnet.

The division is the first launched by Panasonic worldwide. It combines state-based account managers, marketing and sales staff with technical and support, and brings together the vendor's consumer and business-oriented communications product lines. All sales are undertaken by its dealer channels.

"Previously, cordless phones and the like were in the consumer electronics group, while PBX sat in the business group, and we couldn't leverage both sides with partners," CPG director, Brett McInnes, said. "This streamlines the decision-making and our processes so we can offer improved support for channel partners."

A study conducted by ABI Research found one in four US mobile phone users would change carriers in order to gain access to WiFi/mobile convergence, reports Wi-Fi Planet.

The same study predicted that by 2011, more than 325 million WiFi/mobile handsets will be shipping each year.

"Convergence presents carriers with a compelling opportunity to build subscriber loyalty and migrate more users to mobile applications such as e-mail, Web surfing and multimedia downloads," ABI analyst Philip Solis said at the time. "We expect to see a number of US carriers launching convergence programmes over the next year."

A new report from BT has found converged networking services deliver higher levels of customer satisfaction than traditional network IT services, reports ITPro.

The research, conducted by Coleman Parkes, found over 40% of UK organisations with a converged network are more satisfied with their managed services partners than they were prior to their investment in the technology, and attributes this to better network performance and reliability.

Only 6% of organisations are less satisfied with their service partners since adopting convergence. David Stark, VP of convergent services within BT's Global Services division, told IT PRO the report looked at the trend towards adopting convergent networking technologies that support both voice and data communications, which previously required separate infrastructures.