ks existed separately from voice and video (connection-oriented) networks and have been independently managed. Management packages that only recognize devices from a single manufacturer are of limited value outside homogenous networks (which are rare); such products should at least recognize, if not manage, devices from a variety of manufacturers (few such products recognize non-IP-enabled conventional PBXs). This is important in managing converged networks. Convergence requires expertise in conventional voice and video, and expertise in data networking. An Introduction to Video Communications The market has outgrown earlier distinctions between videoconferencing, interactive multimedia, and store-and-forward video communications Whereas, in the past, video communications represented a technology that was looking for applications, applications now use a combination of video communications technologies. IP-based video communication is driving growth by making conventional videoconferencing a foundation on which to build applications for banking, government, distance learning, telemedicine, and various desktop applications. Of the 2003 videoconferencing market's paltry $550 million, IP-only endpoints comprised more than 23%. IP will comprise 85% of the 2007 videoconferencing end-points market. The real story is that, by 2009, the global market for web conferencing systems and services will reach $2.7 billion. One of the fundamental reasons for the meteoric success of video communication today is reduced bandwidth demand. Because of dramatic improvements in the software that makes it possible, the codec (coder/decoder), requisite bandwidth has plummeted. In 1990, the H.261 codec made videoconferencing possible. However, business-quality conferencing commonly took place over 512 Kbps or even 768 Kbps connections (at a time when a 1.544 Mbps T-1 was considered broadband). In 1995, the H.263 codec reduced the bandwidth burden to 384 Kbps in most cases. In 2004, that burden declined by a third with the implementation of