Let's not make network equipment like we used to

The industry continues to buzz about the "convergence" of voice and data onto the same network infrastructure. For that convergence to happen, however, we need much better network equipment.

More than speed, more than prioritizing voice packets - the most important factor in bringing voice onto a data network is making the reliability of the underlying equipment rock solid. People trust the phone system, they rely on it, and they expect it to work. They have lesser expectations of data networks.

If voice is going to run on data networks, then data networks have to be as reliable as the phone system, or close to it. Eric Benhamou, CEO of 3Com, likes to say that we need "four 9's" of reliability - that is, the data network has to be up 99.99% of the time.

Even Benhamou will tell you we haven't achieved that. Companies are relying more and more on their network infrastructure to run their businesses. Therefore, increased reliability should be a priority for network hardware regardless of whether voice is in the picture. Until the hardware deserves to be trusted, users won't trust it.