PDF of this tutorialCommunications applications have traditionally been standalone and based on proprietary technologies. Such systems are inflexible, and are expensive to purchase, maintain, and upgrade. However, all this is changing.
The industry has realized the value of the Web’s modular architecture and has begun applying this architecture to voice applications. The emergence of speech markup languages such as VoiceXML and SALT has aided this process. These languages are used to develop a voice user interface in the same way that HTML provides a graphical user interface.
Disaggregation of the Network
The combination of industry disaggregation (a “horizontal” restructuring in what has traditionally been a vertical market), proliferation of IP in emerging and established networks, and industry consolidation around standards is changing existing paradigms. IP networks are becoming the preferred vehicle for sending converged voice and data. The result is a change in the industry model from a few vendors who supplied end-to-end proprietary networks to many specialized standards driven suppliers who now provide specific pieces of the network (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Network disaggregation and associated factors
Source: Broadview, 2003
Horizontal Restructuring
New and developing standards are also pushing the industry to restructure horizontally, making the business case for vendors to move toward modular architectures. This modular architecture moves vendors away from proprietary “big iron” systems with proprietary hardware (custom Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), etc.) and software that is not easily upgradeable nor interoperable, towards open systems founded on modular, interoperable building blocks that leverage flexibility, choice and a new community of independent application developers.
