Convergence of communications

Convergence, in varying and unfortunately not yet standard phrasings, is the goal of having all types of human-to-computer and computer-to-computer communications all run over a common infrastructure using Internet Protocol version 4 or Internet Protocol version 6.

It is neither necessary, nor desirable from a security standpoint, that they all run over the public Internet. All of these services can be restricted to other than the Internet, such as intranets or extranets.

This definition of convergence does not attempt to standardize the applications themselves. Instead, it includes the technologies that enable application-specific communications to be transmitted over standard interfaces to information delivery systems using Internet Protocol, Session Initiation Protocol, and similar protocols and interfaces.

• Data [r]: Please do not use this term in your topic list, because there is no single article for it. Please substitute a more precise term. See Data (disambiguation) for a list of available, more precise, topics. Please add a new usage if needed.

• Directory service [r]: A function that maps to and from human-readable names and computer-readable addresses, not intended to be a search engine ^[e]
• Search engine [r]: An application which accepts a query in a specialized (e.g. MEDLINE) or general language (e.g., Google) and responds with bibliographic references (e.g., medical journals, the public Web). ^[e]
• Email [r]: A method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems. ^[e]
• File transfer [r]: In computer networking, a means for copying an ordered set of records comprising a file, from at least one computer, to at least one computer ^[e]
• Transaction processing [r]: Add brief definition or description
• World Wide Web [r]: A global collection of information presented in the form of documents hosted on networked computers and available to the public. ^[e]
• Virtual documents [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Text messaging [r]: Add brief definition or description

• Universal emergency telephone number system [r]: A single, short telephone number, such as 911 or 112, which will connect the caller to a dispatcher capable of determining the need for ambulance, police, fire or other emergency services, and arranging for the service(s) to get to the location where the problem exists ^[e]
• 911 [r]: Add brief definition or description

• Multimedia [r]: Add brief definition or description
• IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) [r]: Add brief definition or description

• Audio [r]: Please do not use this term in your topic list, because there is no single article for it. Please substitute a more precise term. See Audio (disambiguation) for a list of available, more precise, topics. Please add a new usage if needed.

• Broadcast radio [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Pay-per-view audio content [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Telephony [r]: Add brief definition or description

• Television [r]: Electronic transmission of moving pictures. ^[e]
• Commercial television [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Pay-per-view television [r]: Add brief definition or description

• Facsimile [r]: A means of sending copies of paper documents, over conventional telephone networks or over Internet protocol ^[e]

• Telemetry [r]: Add brief definition or description
  • System Control And Data Acquisition SCADA, for any critical service, never should run over the public Internet