Converged environments/networks

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Converged Environments/Networks were first described in US Patent 5,577,042. The actually history dates back to the work of Phillip A. Coombs from late 1991 who developed a methodology for creating a bandwidth on demand environment.

First public presentation of the concept was in January 1992 at a conference hosted by McGraw Broadcast Communications for the telecommunication industry at Fifth & Race Conference Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. During this conference Mr. Coombs gave an extensive presentation on the merging of technologies and stated that given the nature of technology the world would soon face a "convergence event" that would result in a paradigm shift in how the world sees the industry. Mr. Coombs went on to describe a new environment and methodology where technologies "converged". He concluded the presentation stating, "We have two paths which we can follow: the traditional path, that will quickly result in a collision of technologies or this new path, this paradigm shift in our thought(s). In short, what I have offered today is a new paradigm; one that leads to a converged environment without the barriers of technology we face today . . ."