2.0, Take Two

In the last 24 months, I've heard a lot about Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0--and now we're beginning to hear about Convergence 2.0. The point of the "2.0" label is that things have now changed so radically that we must re-imagine and re-label the topic. I'm not sure that any of the things so-labeled are really ready for a new way of thinking: in every case I've seen so far, what we have is the result of a steady course of improvements in technology and products. It's really, in most cases, the marketing plans that are ready for a major upgrade.

Convergence 2.0 is similar. If you've been following the industry for the last couple of years, you won't be surprised to see that mobile communications and personalized interfaces are becoming more important--they've been growing in capabilities and importance for a while. Even the notion that a game console can be used to communicate isn't new--the PSP has been picking up corporate web mail since the first week after its introduction.

Our industry is one of change and growth. We can come up with new labels and describe new paradigms, but it's all part of a steady march to make communications and collaboration easier, more efficient, and far more effective for organizations and the people who work there. It's a steady march, and a good one.

Speaking of change, we're not immune here in the publishing world. This will be your last issue of BusinessVoIPReport: we're being folded into FierceVoIP, which comes to you twice a week in order to better keep pace with this fiercely competitive industry. You should head over to the FierceVoIP web site now to sign up and make sure that you don't miss an issue. I've enjoyed being part of helping you keep up with the changes in VoIP, and I'll look forward to seeing you again--on the Internet. -Curtis