The convergence of telecommunications and computing: What are the implications today?

David G Messerschmitt

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 1996)

As has been widely recognized for some time, the computing and telecommunications technologies are converging. This has meant different things at different times. In this review paper, we describe the current state of convergence, and speculate about what it may mean in coming years. In particular, we argue that as a result of the horizontal integration of all media (voice, audio, video, animation, data) in a common network and terminal infrastructure, telecommunications and networked-computing applications are no longer distinguishable. Considering that the old terminology is no longer meaningful, we attempt to codify networked applications in accordance with their functionality and immediacy. As application functionality is increasingly defined in software, with commensurate cost-effective programmable terminals and means for distribution of applications over the network itself, we argue that user-to-user applications will be greatly impacted, moving into the rapid-innovation regime that has characterized user-to-information-server applications in the recent past. Finally, we identify a number of areas where different technical approaches and design philosophies have characterized telecommunications and computing, and discuss how these technical approaches are merging and identify areas of needed research. We do not address complementary forms of convergence at the application or industrial level, such as convergence of the information and content-provider industries, but rather restrict attention to the infrastructure and technology.