The different components of the trio commonly called "triple play" today (Voice, Video, and Data) were originally developed in different domains, and the networks carrying them were designed and engineered specifically for their requirements. The implication was that different network environments had to be supported concurrently to allow all three services to exist. Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) was the first network technology specifically created to allow for the convergence of data, video, and voice over Wide Area Networks (WANs), but it has failed to be accepted in the Local Area Network (LAN) space due to unproven costs and complexity. Ethernet has come out as the clear dominant LAN technology. With the rapid emergence of mobile networking using Ethernet-based wireless LAN (802.11) technologies the market is exhibiting renewed enthusiasm for communication convergence based on LAN technologies. Recent advancements in security and Voice over IP (VoIP) reliability and quality along with the seamless integration of new WLANs and traditional LANs have provided the technical and business impetus to converge data, video, and voice networks into a single cohesive network service infrastructure. However, supporting varying classes of services and capabilities on LAN and WLAN environments has proved to be very challenging due to strict requirements on IP packet loss, packet delay, and delay variation (jitter). To make convergence of services realistic we are looking at recent advancements in Quality of Service (QoS) algorithms particularly in the areas of process and packet prioritization and scheduling as the main enabler for allowing network architects to overlay voice, data, and video on a shared data network. Furthermore, WLANs (802.11) have become a mainstream capability suitable for the enterprise as they provide converged services while being "always connected." This concept allows the LAN to become an integrated method of connectivity not just for traditional devices such as desktops but also for a large group of mobile computing devices of varying form factors and mobile telephony users presenting a significant and appealing value to businesses. We propose a campus-level LAN in which the three previously separate networks are "converged" seamlessly into one mobility-enabled enterprise network architecture. We estimate that the simplicity of the converged architecture will contribute significantly to the total cost of ownership (TCO) of managing the capabilities independently in a campus for IT.

In this paper we present the enterprise converged network architecture and its uses. We describe the case studies that will be used by ISTG at Folsom for LAN and voice convergence and the plan for a wireless network to integrate with LAN to make it another access media to support all LAN services.