I got the call when another writer gave up. I had one week, the ex-writer's notes, and the names of primary resource people who were all out of town. I mined a digital news service for anything on "convergence." I already knew something of Tek's products and strategy. My extrapolation was correct; it was a piece that could have become science fiction, instead it was science fact. We delivered it in time for the trade show and the web version stayed in play for over a year.
Convergence seems an unusual name for revolution. To converge, after all, means to come together, to approach a single point. But this single point marks the evolution of a worldwide, multifaceted network for multimedia information. It stands for accelerating technological change that is fundamentally altering the way people work, play, and think.
In this context Convergence defines a coming together of communication, computer, and video technologies to provide information of any kind to any location. It describes the movement toward delivery of any or all information types-audio, data, and video-through diverse transmission and switching systems, into new reception devices dictated by customers.
This coming together is breaking barriers and unleashing possibilities. A few years ago different industry segments felt safe following established patterns and pursuing time honored goals. Broadcasters broadcasted, computers computed, and telephones rang each other up. Now broadcasters, network providers, and telecommunications giants, among many others, are being swept into a dizzying convergence information laden, multimedia video links. All the old rules of who delivers what to whom , how and where are shattering as once separate technologies are being warped together as merge lanes on an information superhighway.
Successfully negotiating these changes will bring enormous rewards. Failure may bring extinction. Information is the new exchange currency. Mergers and alliances dominate the news as global businesses scramble to diversify their knowledge and increase their technological prowess, earnestly preparing for growth-or survival.
Convergence is driven by technological evolution and market development. Video/audio signals were too complex and demanded too much bandwidth to permit the merger of data types into diverse switching and transmission networks. Today that has changed dramatically.
New compression standards for video greatly reduce the bandwidth necessary to transmit signals. This enables network operators to expand their offerings with new services tailored for individuals and business. The greater the benefits of these new options, the more services customers will use and pay for. Customer demands for even more diverse services spur content providers to develop better products and urge network providers to further expand their options.
To better reach these benefits, businesses that create, carry, or consume information are already constructing a new digital infrastructure of wired and wireless networks. This infrastructure will have electronic, distributed transmission "pipes" to better converge voice, data and video signals. The success of these networks will be determined by their quality and reliability. If a signal's attributes or path becomes compromised anywhere along the path from source to destination, the result will be faulted and unacceptable-ending the benefits and devastating the growth chain.
This imposes a new limit on the success of any business' convergence efforts. Convergence applications extend far beyond tradition audio and data information. The most compelling new opportunities are focused on video on demand, interactive TV, video conferencing, multimedia to the desktop, and personal communication services. Successfully managing complex signals through diverse technologies requires deep understanding of both the video signal and the complicating effects of such dissimilar pathways.
How can network participants gain the knowledge necessary to enable quality delivery throughout expanding systems? How can they ensure the fidelity of complex audio and video signals at every step across a bewildering path of switching and transmission technologies-all the way from information creator to information consumer?
They need new partners who already understand every twist and turn of the highway. Tektronix-through its matchless core competencies and its long history of measurement excellence-is uniquely qualified. Tektronix combines its deep knowledge of high-speed data acquisition, digital signal processing, and video measurement system quality to create outstanding measurement solutions capable of ensuring the highest standards of signal and information flow quality and reliability over all possible broadband paths.
For almost fifty years Tektronix has led the evolution of electronic signal measurement. From developing the first practical oscilloscope and the first video trigger, through the convoluted cable technologies of today, and into the converging future, Tektronix has been providing customers with the ability to test complex signals in any format or standard.
Tektronix' understanding of
video/audio signals and its proficiencies in every branch of
electronic measurement have led to technological dominance in the
global television and video production markets. Its contributions to
the television industry have led to 8 technical Emmy awards and an
Oscar. Tektronix holds over 130 patents in video alone. Its
researchers and engineers play significant roles on standards
committees worldwide.
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