In the Data Networking Community

Over the years, data-networking engineers have developed precise rules for how a data
packet is constructed, and how each side behaves when it sends and receives data packets.
These rules are called protocols. Although many protocols for data networking have been
developed during the past 50 years, since the rise of the Internet, the Internet Protocol, or
IP, has become the most important protocol.
IP has proved remarkably scalable and adaptable. That’s why IP networking has become
ubiquitous, changing the ways we think about transferring data and communicating. Over
the past few years, the word “convergence” has drawn a lot of attention and promise to the
IP-networking industry. Convergence means taking different types of data—voice, video,
and application data—and transferring them over the same IP network.