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By silicon.com, 19 August 2003 18:01

COMMENT Over the years business people have heard about various technologies that they've been told will revolutionise the way their companies communicate. They will recognise phrases such as ATM, Frame Relay, quite possibly Ethernet and maybe SNA. They might even have an idea what some of these mean. Doubtless any proficient IT or telecoms department will know (go on - test your colleagues). But despite the partial or pretty complete success of the above and other standards - which may work together or go head-to-head with each other - one standard is perhaps now mentioned above the rest: IP. The internet boom years saw a craze for native all-IP global networks. (Only the money for them typically ran out, with a couple of exceptions.) Either side of that time we also heard a fair bit about IP telephony - the idea that voice calls can be made by converting sounds to packets of data rather than by using always-open, circuit-switched channels. The point is that at both ends of the comms spectrum IP has been touted as something of a panacea. When Father of the Net Vint Cerf all those years ago touted his humble internet protocol little did he know that decades later it would have almost become a household name. Now the world's leading international carriers - companies such as AT&T, BT, C&W, Equant and Infonet - see the benefits in pushing IP. Users increasingly see why they should be using it. And as such, silicon.com's latest special report looks at the issues surrounding this shift. Is IP so wonderful? Where next for managed IP services or measuring return on any IP investment? Go to http://www.silicon.com/ip to find out and stay up to date.