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by Mark Robinson
In convergence technology, the future is now.
All products and technologies that only seem real in episodes of The Jetsons are here, accessible to almost anyone with the awareness.
Bluetooth, iPods, iPhones, Smart Homes—refrigerators that know you’re out of milk and automatically place it on your grocery list.
Collin College, over the years, has put its name and resources behind supplying a skilled, educated work¬force to develop these type of products.
The future is, indeed, now, but Collin College knew that years ago.
Mary Hawkins means a lot to the Collin College con¬vergence tech¬nology program.
Yes, she was a good student, who took home the prestigious League for Innovation in the Community College Terry O’Banion Award as Student Technology Champion, sponsored by Microsoft, in 2007.
In May 2007, she was the first graduate of the conver¬gence tech¬nology program.
In June 2007, she was already working. She was hired by epiphany, a Dallas conver¬¬gence technology company, as a network engineer.
There, she works with small- to medium-sized businesses installing and implementing computer networks. Recently, she helped install a network of video phones for deaf or hard of hearing interpreters call center. These interpreters are a service provided for those who need them to communicate using sign language.
And she credits the Collin College convergence technology program for putting her where she is today.
"The Cisco classes definitely helped," Hawkins said. "If I didn’t have that experience, I’d be lost at this job. My classes helped me. We install a lot of voice-over IP, (and having that experience at Collin College) put me farther than someone that didn’t have that opportunity."
The Convergence Technology Center, located at the Preston Ridge Campus in Frisco, finds its roots around 1999 when the college received a project grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) titled Advancing Careers in Technology and Sciences (ACTS). Three years later, the college received a second project grant from the North Texas Regional Technology Consortium as a means to infuse instruction of convergence technology in north Texas. They used some of the grant money to start the convergence lab.
Then in 2004, the college received a regional center’s grant along with Dallas County Community College District and Tarrant County College, as one of 33 regional centers in the nation, through the Advanced Technology Education program of NSF. As part of the $2.4 million grant, the colleges, using the convergence lab, provide services for local business, training and, of course, education.
Using the lab, Collin College students can get the valuable hands-on experience that normally can only be found on the job.
"The hands-on experiences are vital. Until you can apply your knowledge, you’re not going to understand it truly," Hawkins said. "The great thing about having that hands-on experience in a lab is if you mess something up, you’re not taking down a company. You’re comfortable, you’re not scared of typing in the wrong thing."
Convergence technology is the integration of several components—voice, data, video, etc.—into one network. Much like the modern cell phone that acts as an mp3 player, phone, computer, address book and more. Convergence is also involved in what Helen Sullivan, director of the Convergence Technology Center, calls the Triple Play—companies providing Internet, cable and phone services in one package whereas before you had to deal with three separate companies.
Also, Smart Home technology, an essential aspect of convergence technology, is en vogue. Imagine refrigerators that know when you’re out of milk and communicate that to a grocery list maintained by the computer in your house. So real, but it’s merely an evolution of technology. One technology begets another technology and so on, until we reach the point that cell phones are thinner, houses smarter and iPods that hold 10,000 songs can fit in the palm of your hand.
"We had a lot of people who lost their jobs but they have a lot of skills," Sullivan said in reference to various cyclical ebbs of the technology world. "Part of it is an issue of anticipating what the next wave is going to be and can you take some of these skills as a bridge to what the next career field is. Convergence has been called different things. People have heard about it like voice-over IP or Smart Home Technology. But we’ve put a name to it and you can wrap your head around that this means voice, video, data and image all on one network."
Cody Hooper, current convergence technology student, has seen the technology evolve. He’s seen analog give way to digital and now digital giving way to IP. In 1998, after being laid off, Hooper started Trinicomm, his own company that installs phone and wireless networks.
Finding himself having to get new Nortel certifications every so often, he decided to attend college. Hooper considered his options and chose Collin College.
"My father-in-law mentioned Collin College and sure enough it had come out with a convergence program and it was tailored for what I was looking for," Hooper, formally of Allen and currently of Fairview, said. "I’ve already started implementing some of the things I’ve learned. We’re starting to do the core stuff of networks like routers and switches, of course, wireless and securing wireless. I’m actually implementing what I’m learning as I’m learning it. The day’s coming when you don’t call a phone guy or data guy, but you’ll call one guy, like me, who’ll work on both."
Hooper has another year left before he finishes his associate degree. He will be the first in his family to earn a college diploma. Afterwards, he wants to earn his bachelor’s degree from Fort Hays University, as does Hawkins, both working toward tomorrow.
Sullivan said the program has a Business Advisory Committee that meets quarterly to discuss the future of the field. Program staff conduct surveys with tech companies and determine their hiring needs for the next six months through the upcoming five years. Thus they can tweak curriculum to fit the future of the technology field.
"We’re preparing students and career changers so when the jobs are ready, they are ready to go. I think Mary Hawkins is proof of that happening because she found her job so quickly after she graduated," Sullivan said. "We feel like we have a good handle on the job forecast for the next couple of years. We have a good sense of what skills the industry is looking for. If we see something on the horizon, the faculty receive training so they can pass that on to their students."
Hawkins foresees a growth in convergence technology. Smart Homes will become more accessible and sophisticated. The way we watch TV, do business or talk on the phone will change.
"I think everyone will be using voice-over IP," she said. "I use a soft phone that’s installed in my computer. And all of my voicemail messages are sent to my cell phone in e-mail attach¬ments to listen to on my computer.
"More people using technology in ways like these mean that there will be a lot more work for me."
For more information about the convergence technology program or Convergence Technology Lab, visit www.ccccd.edu. |
