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For years, telecom has been looking for a silver bullet that will bring black ink to the balance sheets of equipment providers and the boon of new revenue to service providers.

But maybe it's already here, and it's not just one thing: Rather, it's an array of voice-over-IP solutions that makes businesses more productive, drives upgrades to embedded systems and fills the coffers of vendors and carriers. It is collaboration, and it allows workgroups, traveling employees, business partners, trainers and other groups to come together electronically in real time.

Collaboration brings together disparate applications in a unifying way, with a focus on productivity. For example, a corporate user in an airport lounge calls on his Wi-Fi-enabled smart phone into the remote corporate help desk contact center about his or her inability to retrieve a proposal. The help desk technician who receives the call just participated in a Webcast where he learned that a fix is ready for beta test, and the release team is looking for a trial user.

The technician locates, via instant messaging, the fix release manager and support team and schedules an ad hoc voice conference using the company's shared calendar function. The company's software release manager sets up a Web conference that includes audio, graphics and white-boarding with the release team. The software vendor, anxious to help its customer, uses IM and presence to get its product team together to monitor.

The help desk technician walks the user through the update, and the update is automatically downloaded as part of the secure sign-on. The problem is solved, the RFP is received, and the sale is made.

Maybe this scenario seems far-fetched, but similar collaborative processes, combining disparate heretofore stand-alone applications, are being combined in real time today. The market for the full suite is nascent, but the elements — ad hoc or scheduled voice and video conferencing, shared scheduling, IM and presence, shared graphics, Web conferences, white-boarding — are all available today. Equipment companies, software vendors and service providers are making this scenario possible through new collaboration suites, partnerships and service offerings. Throw in voice recognition and real-time language translation, and the possibilities are virtually limitless.

Making collaboration work will be a challenge for both internal technology organizations and service providers. But the promise is compelling, and the vision is not limited by technology. Maybe the hunt for the killer application is finally bearing fruit.

Occupation: Executive vice president of The Eastern Management Group and manager of the firm's public and private networking practices; longtime telecom industry consultant and pundit

Location: New York

Favorite Destination: Kona Coast of Hawaii

Current reading: “Inevitable Surprises: Thinking Ahead in a Time of Turbulence” by Peter Schwartz (a college classmate)

Hobby: Bonsai

What's next: Determining how consolidation, convergenceand 4-play (not quadruple play) will change the way companies go to market