Articles By Ron Scott

The supposed benefits of IP telephony are changing

In view of the results to date, why are enterprises continuing their migration to IP telephony? The benefits of open telephony systems and interoperability remain a dream. The expected cost reductions and productivity

Published on: December 13th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

WiMAX unlikely to address concerns of CDMA carriers

CDMA has some technical advantages, but it has lost the war in the global marketplace for second generation (2G and 2G+) cellular systems. As a technology it is surviving, at least into the

Published on: December 5th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

WiMAX could have impact on WLANs, local access

The mobile version of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) might eventually change the landscape of both fixed and mobile broadband networking.In the meantime, however, it poses a dilemma for network operators and

Published on: October 5th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Network neutrality debate clouded by politics, emotion

The battle over network neutrality (NN) in the U.S. will determine to a large extent the future of the Internet, but will the outcome deliver the best result for most users? NN supporters

Published on: September 6th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Separate the project manager from the technical manager

At least that's what it looks like, if you use as a yardstick the number of individuals who have received formal project management training. In practice, however, there still is a gap between

Published on: July 20th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Convergence, mobility requires a planned approach to IT

Systems architecting: you either love it or hate it. If you ignore it, however, problems will arise. You might challenge this by claiming that you have not needed it before. But the much

Published on: June 13th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

IP, SIP, presence awareness can improve customer service

Before spending more money on your contact centre, consider the possibility that you might be on the wrong path. From a high level, there is a tendency to treat contact centres generically. Their

Published on: May 8th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

The differences between reliability, availability, resiliency

The evolution of systems that handle all types of media within the enterprise is inevitable. Along with the benefits of unified communications systems, however, there will be increasing concern about reliability. This is

Published on: April 11th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Unified messaging strategy depends on IP telephony plan

Unified messaging (UM) is back in the news. The integration of voice mail and e-mail is now seen as either a cause or an effect of the expected migration to IP-telephony. Either way

Published on: March 6th, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Battle for control over Web being fought on several fronts

The recent attempt by some countries to place control of the Internet under the United Nations achieved very little success. This result could be viewed as a victory by those who fear a

Published on: February 1st, 2006 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Convergence has limited value for telecom service providers

The concept of a value chain is the effect of successively building one product or service on top of another, with the value increasing at each step. It is a useful management tool,

Published on: December 12th, 2005 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Moving to an IP call centre entails huge process changes

Frequently the emphasis is on the pros and cons of various vendors' solutions and the technical issues surrounding their implementation. However, this approach puts the cart before the horse. Furthermore, unless you have

Published on: October 20th, 2005 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Systems design doesn’t entail being all things to all clients

Information and communications technology is full of complexity, and professionals often suffer from difficulties in communicating with management, especially if managers have a non-technical background. There are many reasons for this, some the

Published on: June 13th, 2005 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

Figuring out how to pay for real-time Internet content

The Internet is severely limited by its current business model, which is different from the business models of companies that provide services over the Internet. Improvements to the former could have untold benefits

Published on: March 9th, 2005 Ron Scott @itbusinessca

IP will enable pull distribution, making some rules obsolete

Canada needs a new telecommunications policy. The industry needs more freedom from regulation, and especially from rules based on cultural concerns. While this might seem like an old issue, what makes it different

Published on: January 13th, 2005 Ron Scott @itbusinessca