Read to Learn

I keep hearing about all the "voice centric people" being nervous about convergence. It seems ironic that the ones who have been able to keep PBX's up and running almost non stop are worried about sending their traffic over a network known to be, shall we say, less reliable. I guess the problem lies in the requirement to learn new skills. Beyond that, however, is the fear of having to work with a new group of people. A group that has a reputation for shunning nontechnical "voice " people.

To be fair, network managers are often highly skilled and trained. You rarely hear of a shipping clerk or telephone operator being given responsibility for a corporate network. But, we all know that it has happened with the voice network. This is not to say that there are not plenty of skilled and trained telecom managers - there are. But there are also those who have little technical background beyond training on their particular PBX or Voice mail system. This is where some of the nervousness comes in.

Some of the less technical of the voice folks are afraid they might be competing with their own network managers for control of the telecom system. Well, it could happen. But the network managers are nervous too. They have to learn just as many new skills, and the more they learn, the more they realize that they may have underestimated the requirements of running a voice system. That said, we still have a lot of work to do.

There is plenty you can do to get ready for convergence. Short of getting professional training you can begin by reading. You need to learn to talk data. Invest in a book about basic data transmission, or basic network technology. Get something geared to your own level of expertise. In addition, there are plenty of web sites that contain tutorials for data technologies. Some of the magazines you read have excellent web pages where you can find very detailed descriptions of how things work. Manufacturer web pages are also good sources of information. Read data articles; even if you don't understand all of it, gloss over it and get what you can. You will notice that before long you can say, "Yes, I know what that is, I read about in ……" Even reading ads is often educational. You don't need to know exactly how everything works, but you need to know about what is being developed. Reading is something you can do on your own time, and at your own pace, without fear of anyone becoming aware of what you do or don't already know.

You can educate yourself to a certain extent. Don't let travel or training budgets get in your way. And don't underestimate yourself. You already have valuable skills that will still be needed in the