IT Pulls a Hat Trick

Computerworld - Most IT professionals are used to the idea of wearing many hats, as tight budgets and lean staffing have forced them to take on more than one role within their departments. Now, technology changes are blurring the roles between IT and external groups as well.
A broad, cross-industry convergence on a single set of communications technologies is becoming the new common denominator across what were formerly disparate corporate job functions. Mass adoption of TCP/IP and Ethernet across disciplines could soon begin to erode departmental barriers and redefine what is and is not an IT function. Turf wars are likely to erupt. And before it's over, IT managers may feel as though they've tried on more hats than the Village People.
The question is, as everything converges onto a common network architecture, how should that architecture be designed, how should it be managed, and who should have responsibility for the disparate systems that use it?
Consider building-automation systems. From heating and ventilation to surveillance and elevator monitoring, building automation will undergo a major transition to TCP/IP and Ethernet over the next 10 years. Traditional use of expensive, proprietary cabling systems, communications protocols and specialized converter boxes will give way to a common, structured cable plant and network infrastructure.
The convergence of automated building-monitoring and control systems onto a single communications medium has implications that even those in the industry have yet to fully grasp. New applications are likely to emerge that will offer unprecedented integration - as soon as someone thinks of them.
And with the ratification this summer of the emerging Power-over-Ethernet standard, the local wiring closet will gradually evolve into a universal distribution system for low-power devices, ranging from security-card readers to IP surveillance cameras and even emergency backup lighting, time-card readers and wall clocks. Each will be remotely configurable and will feed back status information over Ethernet.
But with Ethernet fully democratized, who will control the infrastructure? You could create parallel, separately managed networks. But IT has more experience managing IP-based data networks, and sooner or later, someone is going to want to cross the IT and building-automation systems' data streams. For example, analysts say IT security is likely to merge with building-security systems over the next few years in order to provide a more comprehensive security picture.
Meanwhile, wireless LANs are following PDAs through the corporate back door, and departmental managers have begun acting like network managers, installing WLAN access points in a grass-roots effort to give mobile office workers access to the corporate LAN. Do you