With the US economy in a constant state of 'flux', organizations, companies, and even entire industries are obviously looking for opportunities to save money and increase innovation. Those who follow the news are no stranger to the current state of the air travel industry. With constantly shifting demand and load factors, decreased routes, and constant variation in fuel prices, the industry is looking to squeeze the last ounce out of every dollar.

I recently spent quite a bit of last week at various airports while traveling on vacation. As a true telecom geek, I'm always curious about how organizations and entities are utilizing technology to aid in their daily operations. At a specific regional airport in the southeast US, the use of converged telephony was in full force.

Utilizing a Cisco CallManager, the airport provided leased telephony resources to each carrier operating out of the airport. With constant gate changes and check-in counters among carriers, a traditional telephony environment wasn't going to work effectively. Instead, carrier employees simply logged in and out of the IP phones as needed, and calls were directed to the proper location, regardless of location changes among carriers.

Ultimately, the need for constant MACs (moves, adds, and changes) was nearly non-existent. Not only did this simplify communications among the carriers, it also relieved the need for multiple and separate PBX switches, and system management became nearly non-existent for the carriers.

Toronto Pearson International Airport also deployed a similar network, simplifying communications across a large multi-terminal, multi-carrier environment.

How will the use of VoIP and convergence technologies at the airport influence other industries? Will we see similar "leased dialtone" environments deployed to large office complexes, etc? With the ease of deployment across an existing IP network, it's only a matter of time before this becomes more and more prevalent.

LATER THIS WEEK on Considering Convergence
Wednesday: The Future of the Key System
Friday: Is Convergence DIVERGING?