* Dion Hinchcliffe’s Web 2.0 Blog lists issues facing Web 2.0
Dion Hinchcliffe’s Web 2.0 Blog has an older but good list of issues that are facing Web 2.0 today. Among the problems that Dion sees for Web 2.0 is ‘Needing a Permaconnection,’ or the need for always-on connectivity in order for Web 2.0 to work.
I’d like to extend that concern not only to Web 2.0, but also to unified communications systems in which e-mail, IP telephony, fax, Web conferencing and other services are integrated and managed more holistically than conventional communication systems. While there are enormous advantages associated with this integration, the vulnerability of this approach goes up, as well. For example, while there is virtually universal connectivity in the workplace, there are times when networks go down, sometimes for days at a time. In the Seattle area last December, a major storm knocked out power and broadband services for hundreds of thousands of people. Some businesses and residences in a heavily populated area just a few miles from Microsoft’s main campus were without these services for nearly two weeks. The result is that when a network fails, e-mail, voice and other services are simultaneously unavailable.
Even when things are operating normally, there are times during which connectivity is unavailable, particularly for mobile employees, making the productivity gains associated with unified communications and Web 2.0 more vulnerable to disruption.
Will this vulnerability slow the adoption of unified communications and Web 2.0 technologies? I believe that it will be of increasing concern to IT managers and others who are charged with not only reducing the cost of the infrastructure, but also with improving its reliability.
