Guest Columnist

It all started with voice and data. Voice networks are rapidly melting into the data networks; the proliferation of IP ‘speaking' devices, a generally mature standards environment and a profusion of software APIs are melting away separated silos of technology. The result is that everything is becoming accessible from anywhere and at any time.

We used to talk about the edges of the internet, but when I wrote this column, I was sitting on a yacht in Amsterdam, connected in real time to a wireless broadband network. While I was typing on my laptop, my dad sitting in Jozi called me on Skype while my sister in London started a conversation with me via instant messaging.