By Christopher Burke, Charter Communications
Mobile devices today can connect to services over cellular and Wi-Fi networks; two completely different technologies with their own designs and sets of standards. Additionally, mobile services are often combined with other services, such as video or internet, and charged to the customer on a single bill. Does this provide a converged user experience? Not really. While bundling of services is convenient to the customer, it doesn’t really converge the delivery of these services. And a device that can connect to multiple networks is great, but if the networks are completely separate, with different authentication methods, policy enforcement, charging rates, and data paths to services, then these networks merely coexist and are not converged. The convergence vision is to deliver ubiquitous connectivity to customers anywhere and on any device, delivered on high capacity and low latency networks. This means that customers would carry their applications, services, policies, and identity with them wherever they go – inside or outside of home, on a fixed or mobile device.