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CONVERGED INFRASTRUCTURE
Making IP
convergence work
Photo William Beaucardet
Mike Holmes, Marketing
Manager, Nexans
www.nexans.co.uk
How to ensure your network
infrastructure is ready as more
devices are connected, controlled
and powered over IP networks
To get started, let’s define what we mean by IP convergence.
Until relatively recently, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
were exclusive to computers, networked devices and VoIP
phones. Today however, many of the standalone devices we
use every day are connected to networks. ‘IP convergence’
is a fact: cameras, access controls, lighting, TVs, home
appliances, vending machines, parking meters and much
more are being connected to networks at home, in the office
and factory networks, even in our cars.
The resulting Internet of Things is huge – and growing
fast. According to Ericsson the Internet may connect
50 billion IoT-enabled devices by 2020. IT, telecom and
consumer technology analyst IDC thinks this will be a
significantly higher number - some 212 billion. The Cisco
Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology
predicts that by 2019, there will be 3.2 times as many
connected devices as there are people in the world. Soon,
global IP networks will carry two Zettabytes of data each
year – equivalent to a stack of DVDs that reaches to the
moon and halfway back to Earth. It would take five million
years to watch all video streamed each month in 2019.
Wireless, bandwidth and power explosion
As the number of devices keeps growing, bandwidth
requirements increase. Users expect devices to offer new,
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