Information and communications technology (ICT)

Information and communications technology or information and communication technology,[1] usually called ICT, is often used as a synonym for information technology (IT) but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) in modern information technology. ICT consists of all technical means used to handle information and aid communication, including both computer and network hardware as well as necessary software. In other words, ICT consists of IT as well as telephony, broadcast media, and all types of audio and video processing and transmission.[2] The expression was first used in 1997[3] in a report by Dennis Stevenson to the UK government[4] and promoted by the new National Curriculum documents for the UK in 2000. ICT is often used in the context of "ICT roadmap" to indicate the path that an organization will take with their ICT needs.[5][6] The term ICT is now also used to refer to the merging (convergence) of telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large economic incentives (huge cost savings due to elimination of the telephone network) to merge the telephone network with the computer network system. See VOIP. This in turn has spurred the growth of organizations with the term ICT in their names to indicate their specialization in the process of merging the two network systems.