Convergent What?
So what exactly is convergent technology?
An interesting thing is happening as computing power, data storage, and connectivity become pervasive. When your phone, your MP3 player, your wi-fi router, your VCR, and every other device you come into contact with is potentially a network-connected computer in its own right, the world becomes much more about services than about individual systems.
Traditionally, the main issue in achieving a business or personal technology goal was primarily one of buying and installing some sort of hardware. As we move to a converged future, the issue becomes one of how to distribute the data, processing, and responsibility between systems. One aspect to this is service distribution among lots of broadly similar systems – commonly referred to as “cloud computing”. Another, and typically more complex aspect is distributing services, data and responsibility between wildly different devices.
I see the field of convergent technology as being concerned with problems and solutions involving such differing devices. How to make the most effective use of the differences and similarities between a desktop PC, a laptop and a mobile phone, for example. Or how to seamlessly transfer identity and preference information between cable TV, web communities and location-based services. Or how to effecively and efficiently determine if a particular device already has access to information it needs.
Solutions often seem to fall into one of two broad approaches: either they treat the different systems as completely separate, which results in huge inefficiency and clumsiness, or they try and pretend that they are the same, which results in a kind of lowest-common-denominator service. The trick is to involve devices and services at a wide range of levels and with a wide range of capabilities to provide a “converged” experience making the most of all the features and facilities on offer.
I am sure there is a huge market waiting to be exploited in this area for any organisation with the right vision.
For years Frank Carver has been paying attention to the strange world of convergent technology. During that time he has discussed and researched broad subject areas, come to some surprising conclusions, produced and distributed digital media, scattered ideas and opinions like sparks from a firework, and above all consulted for businesses both large and small to help develop and deploy successful systems, services, and products in this highly complex arena.
