Telecommunications Convergence: How to Profit from the Convergence of Technologies, Services and Companies (Telecom Portable Consultant) [Paperback]

It is an excellent blend of technological descriptions and business insight with a touch of prognostication from industry leaders, thinkers and innovators. The book is divided into three main parts: 1) the main technologies feeding convergence, 2) company convergence, and 3) services convergence. A veteran technologist may want to skip the first part, but not knowing much about wireless or DSL I found it very informative and a good refresher on T-1. Each part ends with a bibliography containing references to books, web resources and articles, but the real payoff is the information gleaned from the author's extensive interviews.

I love the multipurpose feel to this book. It is labeled as the first of the "Portable Consultant" series and is worthy of that tag. This is not just a technical book and it is not just a business book, it is both, not an easy thing to do. Like a good consultant it is packed full of useful information and easy to understand explanations.

For people who are interested in telecommunications, it means they would like to learn more than telecom vocabularies. Grasping the meaning of all the common industry terms (mostly acronyms) is evidently important. Yet it is more important and useful if the reader knows the applications of those terms, what are the needs and expectations of the users and how to manipulate the technologies that are available in order to get the most out of it? This book is an excellent starting point to address all questions of the same kind. In addition, it can help you to vision a more organized picture of telecommunications. Convergence is the theme of the book. Every little piece of TECHNOLOGY, SERVICE and ORGANIZATION are in fact interrelated. This book is divided into three sections accordingly.

The technology section explains nearly every basic telecommunications terms and concepts that one needs to know in the industry. For example, it introduces ATM as a connection-oriented technology. Instead of giving lengthy description on what ATM is, it compares ATM with frame relay; it explains the QoS and CoS control in ATM (which is important because QoS and CoS allow the provider to provide "measurable performance" to its customers); it discusses why ATM should be considered in a network by laying out the advantages and drawbacks of ATM; and finally the condition of ATM market. Another example is on satellite transmission, more than merely focusing on the technology, the author brings in information on some of the satellite services companies. This helps the readers to develop a more comprehensive view of the technology.

The service and company sections involve a higher level of explanations on the changes of the scale and the scope of services that are provided and how does the new industry model emerge. For example, most of the telecommunications services can be identifies with basic and supplementary/enhanced services. Users expect to receive more services with higher quality over the same network infrastructure. At the same time, there is a trend that companies are altering their models and organizations. New management, new structure, new relationships and all different kind of shifting, merging and renovation are in process to achieve the same goal - more productive and more profitable. E-commerce is absolutely an evolutionary development of doing business with the integration of technology. What are the reactions of the big industry players? It becomes a task to define the role of each carrier and corporation. Examples on Cisco, AOL, AT&T and Quest are deliberated.

In short, this is a book that I would recommend to people who are interested in telecommunications. It will enhance your knowledge on telecommunications industry without intimidating what you have learnt. Edition of the book is frequently updated with the most current information.