Convergence can mean many things. This is probably a result of it being appropriated as the buzzword of choice by several different industries, ranging from home entertainment, mobile phone manufacturers or telecommunications companies.
However, beyond the surface meanings of convergence, such as the development of smart phones or the introduction of PC technology into home appliances, convergence primarily means one thing: IP.
The Internet Protocol (IP) is sure to go down in history as one of the great silent achievers. We don't hear marketing companies straining to extol the virtues of IP. Nor are we often aware of IP beavering away in the bowels of many of the world's biggest (and smallest) servers, enabling us to communicate with each other seamlessly. Yet IP is not only responsible for the Internet, it's also the hinge that enables true convergence.
With multiple devices converging over a broadband (wireless or wired) backbone, there's only one entry point into the home for all your communications and media. This particular model of convergence is increasingly referred to as 'triple play': voice, data, television all over one broadband line.
Behind the hype
The appeal of triple play is not only in the services it provides but in its simplicity of providing multiple services from a provider, and then having a single, straight-forward bill at the end of the month. There is also simplicity when it comes to hardware. Given everything is running over IP, and likely based around traditional PC technology, hardware costs are commoditised. This makes triple play devices potentially cheaper to manufacture than specialised devices that use proprietary technology or standards.
The hardware will also be designed with triple play in mind, which also simplifies installation and usage. Imagine a house wired up for triple play. It could have RJ-45 ports in each room, all hooked up to a gigabit Ethernet network. You could then simply plug your triple play VoIP handset into the port, or your television set top box, or just plug in your PC to access the Internet. Because all the devices are expecting to use this connection, configuration should be minimal - each device should just work as soon as you plug it in.
Sight and sound
All this is not to say the services won't be worth the cost of admission either. Triple play offers some compelling cost savings on traditional services such as voice as well as entirely new services like as IPTV (Internet Protocol Television).
On the voice front the obvious avenue is VoIP. And unlike many current VoIP offerings, a triple play service is designed to replace our conventional landline, so no PC is needed. In this way they're like the stand-alone VoIP services offered by providers such as engin and MyNetPhone, except they're bundled with other services.
In terms of television, things are being shaken up even more. Most triple play services being rolled out today, such as in Europe and the US are based around conventional cable television. However there's an increasing trend towards using high speed ADSL2+ connections to deliver television over IPTV.
However, this is not all IPTV offers. Currently we get content for our television in one of several ways. The most common is free to air broadcasts, either in analogue or digital. Free-to-air, and even cable TV, is quite restrictive. You're limited to watching what the broadcasters want you to watch, and when they want you to watch it. You can get around the serial time-dependent nature of free to air television with a PVR (or with Foxtel's IQ service), but there are still limitations.
Both free-to-air and cable television will be with us for a long time, but in the future we'll have a third avenue that will work alongside them. This third system is true open IPTV. IPTV is simply defined as video transmitted over an IP network, but its potential is far greater than this humble definition implies.
IPTV services could serve as an iTunes for video, and be a legitimate and legal way to access television and movies online. Just because the video is being downloaded over the Internet also doesn't mean it'll be watched on PCs. IPTV is intended to pipe directly through to your television, so you need either a specialised set top box or a media centre.
On the roll
The closest thing we have to triple play today is through Telstra. Telstra's aptly named Single Bill system can provide you with one point of contact for your phone, mobile, broadband and even cable television.
True open IPTV will be the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place, and that will take a number of years to happen. The biggest barrier is not in the technical challenges of delivering high quality video online, but in the licensing arrangements with content providers. Television networks will jealously guard their medium, and will be reluctant to let go of their stranglehold over our living room activities.
Still, with all the hype and buzz surrounding the concept of convergence in the last few years, triple play is the first real vision of how it'll actually pan out. It will take some time to let the market organically evolve around the concept, with competition driving the telcos and ISPs to get with the programme, or be put out of business. While triple play is inevitable, the final form it will take, and the machinations it'll go through before it gets there, are all open to speculation at this stage.
Quad play
It's one of those things. No sooner is one buzzword created then another starts shouldering its way from behind to try and take the limelight.
If triple play is data, voice and video over a single connection, 'quad play' is all that with mobile phones thrown in. As such quad play doesn't quite fit the triple play ethos of a single connection for all your communications, but it does still mean a single bill.
Quad play is also really just a logical extension of triple play. Mobile handsets are already evolving to be smarter with greater connectivity and media functionality. This can enable things like WiFi mobiles that handover to your local network when in range to keep costs down. When around the house, your mobile could also act as a straight forward VoIP handset.
There's a wide range of potential applications, including things like video playback, remote home automation and monitoring, gaming and adding email/instant messaging with presence. However, quad play is even further off than triple play, so things may well evolve before we see the fruits of this buzzword.