Expanding the domain of convergence towards the pervasive paradigm

On May 2008, the Fixed-Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA) published “The Road to Full Convergence – Strategic Directions”. The paper provides readers with an accurate picture of the status of the convergence market worldwide highlighting forecasts and encouraging signals from industry players. The paper also contains an interesting point of view on what convergence means for consumers. The FMCA’s “Customer Convergence Charter” states that:

“Convergence” means bringing together my communications, information, media, and transactions from any of my service providers, on any of my devices, with a consistent service experience, in a cost effective way in order to manage and engage in my personal, social and business life anywhere!

Although most of us may have read something similar in other studies, reports, and research, this recent Charter is ‘refreshing’ as it introduces new elements such as the concept of “transaction” and the capacity of engaging in “personal, social and business life anywhere!”. Thus, fixed and mobile convergence encompasses how fixed and wireless technologies enhance our increasingly digital lives. For example, our communication devices can now serve as transport tickets, parking tickets, debit cards, activity planners, health status indicators and appliance controllers. The device is ubiquitous and becomes pervasive; able to perform tasks beyond communication and entertainment. The domain of convergence goes beyond the traditional boundaries “converging” with other technologies and contexts.

This is not a new concept. The pervasive and ubiquitous computing paradigm was conceived in 1988 by Mark Weiser, a researcher at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC). He led the Ubiquitous Computing Programme, which was at first an attempt to provide radical answers to what was wrong with personal computers: too complex, too hard to use, too elitist and far away from common people. This attempt became the vision for the future of computing. In 1991, he stated his vision in a seminar article, “The Computer for the 21^st Century”, published in the Scientific America.

We are trying to conceive a new way of thinking about computers in the world, one that takes into account the natural human environment and allows computers themselves to vanish into background.

This vision was made of devices, which can communicate with the surrounded environment, predict events and take actions. They are intelligent and invisible presence on our desk and on our clothes. At that time, this vision was too far head, simply because the technology to achieve it did not exist. Today, the picture is changed. Wireless technologies allow us not only to communicate, share and cooperate, but also control other objects. Wireless sensor networks, RFID, NFC, M2M, and broadband wireless technologies become to be widely applied in different vertical sectors. The pervasive paradigm is, finally, out from the labs!

So it is encouraging to see the industry through the likes of FMCA embracing this evolution of digital transition that is taking place at different stages in different parts of the world.