Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too
Improve the Guest Experience and Reduce Costs With Converged Networks
Take It With You
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Data, voice and video information have flowed over computer, phone and television networks for decades. The problem is that each required proprietary networks and interfaces. Internet protocol (IP) technology now enables these three information types to be integrated and flow across a single network. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology is becoming more well known. Vonage, Skype and mainstream telecommunications and television companies such as Verizon, Cingular (AT&T), Sprint and Comcast are among those getting into the business of providing IP telephony. This integration of voice and data supports “click to chat” functionality over the Internet, and enables cell phones and/or PDAs to make and receive phone calls, process e-mails and SMS [Short Message Service] or surf the Internet. The competition is now in the area of IP television (IPTV).
Reaping the Benefits of Converged Networks
The full range of benefits CNs can provide to the hospitality industry is unknown, because many new and innovative uses are only discovered after a technology has diffused throughout the population. But there are a few obvious benefits in the areas of revenue enhancement and cost reduction. In most instances, these bottom-line improvements come from the overarching benefit of CNs – the economies of scale that result from standardizing and centralizing technology.