Three into one will go

Triple play is a marketing term coined to describe the provision of voice, video and data services over network connections. It is not a technical specification as such. It does not describe what the technology will be, how it will work or indeed why it is necessary. Though the why is the usual reason…cheaper & easier to manage a single set of infrastructure than a mangled rats nest of separate systems blah blah…

It is happening, we’ve got a shiny new PBX and it uses standard CAT5e cabling everybody has throughout their offices. No separate cabling required. And that has been the norm for a while. If we really wanted we could enable the VoIP option and run everything over IP. Everything is converging on the network, or more precisely, the network infrastructure. Not quite the same thing. Because everything is converging on the network infrastructure it is ending up at the network manager’s in tray.

Of course, just because everything is converging on the network doesn’t mean that you won’t have a load of ‘heritage’ infrastructure to manage.

[Yep, you’ve seen it coming…this is the bit when we tell you we’ve got the product that will solve the problem and everybody lives happily ever after] 😄

That’s where testers that can handle voice, video and data come into it. Vendors are going to be banging on about this for some time! One tool we recommend is the Test-Um Tri-Porter IVT600. With a single tool you can check telephone, video and network connections and measure the key characteristics of each.