There are, of course, other entrants in the enterprise convergence market outside the big three, Cisco, Lucent and Nortel. EIC is said to be a unified communications solution that virtually eliminates the type of integration efforts associated with traditional computer telephony. The savings are said to come from phone, fax, email and web interactions via a single server, and the better service delivery based on EIC, which allows firms to manage customer interactions more efficiently. EIC replaces many proprietary devices, including automatic call distributors, interactive voice response systems, web gateways and CTI middleware systems. This solution is aimed at the enterprise and call centre markets, but VARs should be aware of the transition issues and remember that it is applications that will drive this market.
Distance learning is one of the key applications for which convergence is highlighted.
The company plans to roll out its first equipment in the next six to eight months. The Lab's LANs consist of ATM and Gigabit Ethernet backbones with switched Ethernet to the desktop. It also demonstrates SANs based on Fibre Channel technology. But the fact that there are more products in the Lab than in the market shows the nascent nature of the sector. Open to persuasion Corporates will remain interested but sceptical about convergence until the telecoms and networking companies prove themselves able to deliver quality of service to agreed standards.