by Kandy, io
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is a term that derives from Information Technology (IT) but has a broader scope. ICT englobes all the technology used to handle telecommunications (telephone and Internet access), media broadcast (television), audiovisual processing and transmission systems, intelligent building management systems as well as network-based control and monitoring systems. Its scope keeps broadening as todays IP based networks take a bigger role in B2B and B2C relationships with new elements such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and more.
More recently, ICT has been also defined as the convergence of data and media technologies (voice, video, etc.) onto a common transmission infrastructure that manages the quality of service to ensures the multiple kinds of traffic get the appropriate handling and priority. This can be seen in many enterprise environments where the move to IP telephony has replaced the dual cabling (for telephone and ethernet) to a single Ethernet wiring (or even WiFi) infrastructure that carries voice, video and data services. In the residential space, cable and fiber providers and ISPs have been leveraging this convergence to provide telephony, video broadcast and Internet access services from a common IP based infrastructure.
According to the European Commission, the importance of IT is less about the technology involved and more about the ability to create greater access to information and communication for the citizens.
The Kandy platform is a key element in this convergence, combining a myriad of carrier-grade communications features through one cloud platform, Kandy provides access to tens of millions of dollars in communications R&D exposed through simple APIs, SDKs, wrappers and applications to enable communication service providers (CSP), independent software vendors (ISV), system integrators (SI) and enterprises to embed real-time communications into their processes and provide the ultimate user experience, optimize costs and enhance productivity.
More information on ICT can be found at Technopedia