One Infrastructure Makes it Simpler

I suppose the pronoun "it" could have been "IT" to refer to simplifying the IT infrastructure. This article touches on several valid points with the focus on convergence which aims to simplify the overall technology infrastructure of an organization. There are many new advancements that seamlessly converge both the traditional phone network with the IP network.

However, what also needs to be considered when embarking on any convergence project is which existing infrastructure components can be retained and still "converged". Do you need a whole new Next Generation Network (NGN)? Ideally, you'd like to integrate much of your existing infrastructure unless it really does need a complete overhaul. Take your PBX for example. If its not easily IP enabled, do you need to replace it if you want to integrate VoIP web conferencing users? You should be able to drop in an IP gateway to do the handshaking between your PSTN and VoIP users in a web conferencing event, for example.

A lenthy read, but covers many topics that mandate consideration:
http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20060828/convergence01.shtml