* Equipment makers tout enterprise hand-off appliances
Fixed-mobile convergence at the enterprise level is suddenly on the lips of major Wi-Fi systems providers.
FMC has been a subject of intense focus for several years, primarily in the context of service provider backbones. In its initial iteration, FMC has been seen as a way for carriers to integrate voice-centric landline and mobile Web services using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and other standards.
The carriers are still building their FMC infrastructures and services packaging and billing strategies. In the meantime, though, enterprise equipment makers are making noises about premises-based offerings that enterprises can use to integrate Wi-Fi, cellular, and wired VoIP services themselves.
In recent weeks, the likes of Siemens, NEC Wireless, and Aruba Wireless Networks have announced plans and products for helping enterprises unify their various communications needs across disparate network types. During the same time period, Cisco announced its intent to acquire start-up Orative Corporation, which makes unified messaging applications and servers centered around the cell phone as a bona fide business phone.
The stories are all a little different, but have a common underlying theme: Equipment-makers are looking to help enterprises converge their IP voice, data, and video communications themselves, either as an interim step to FMC carrier service offerings or as a flat-out alternative to them. Some are focused largely on enabling a seamless handoff between Wi-Fi and cellular networks, while others also emphasize an important first step in enterprise-enabling dual-mode user mobility: Prepping the enterprise Wi-Fi infrastructure for voice-readiness with dense coverage and QoS technologies.
Meanwhile, start-up DiVitas Networks announced in April that it would provide Wi-Fi-to-cellular infrastructure gear for dual-mode roaming late this year. At the Mobile Business Expo conference in Chicago early this month, DiVitas CEO Vivek Khuller said the company would announce commercial shipment of its products – an enterprise appliance that handles wireless signal handoff and client software – “within the next one to two months.”
