Network and IT Only Converging in Theory

J. Caron

Summary Bullets:

• The convergence of network and IT in the enterprise may be inevitable, but it is a very slow process.
• The persisting split means that network operators are not considered IT suppliers, but they deserve examination.

It has been obvious for many years now that the systems to deliver and manage applications in enterprises would become less disparate and more intertwined.  We have been operating under the assumption that the computing, storage and software platforms used to support applications would blend together with the network and telecommunications platforms used to distribute them.  Certainly, the increasingly virtualized and distributed nature of most business organizations mandates that network and connectivity concerns are no longer an afterthought in application architecture, but an integral concern.  As a theory, this convergence of IT and communications systems is just about irrefutable, but is it really happening?