Convergence is currently the most over-used word in the networking and telecoms vocabulary, having been hijacked into use as an umbrella term for any old system that brings two or more previously separate elements together.

For France Telecom's Orange Business Services, it's a case of killing even more birds with one stone. Not only has Orange Business Services merged three previously separate businesses, it is also trying to sell companies the concept of converged network services that marry fixed-line analogue telephones with voice over IP (VoIP), broadband, Wi-Fi access and mobile phone contracts.

Add Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), virtual private networks (VPNs), remote access services, internet security, machine-to-machine communications, RFID wireless tag technology, collaboration and conferencing into the melting pot, and it seems that Orange Business Services may have succeeded in creating a one-stop-shop for all things corporate.

That's assuming customers are not too confused, of course. Because given the drastic organisational alterations needed to combine all these technologies and services into a single entity, Orange's assertion that customers won't notice any change is rather questionable.

Hats off to any company that can successfully meld the sales, provisioning, customer service and support teams for so many different businesses and departments in a short amount of time. But then France Telecom first let slip its intentions to integrate its various businesses under one brand almost a year ago, and you would hope that it has used the intervening time to thoroughly prepare its ground.

The relationship between customers and Orange Business Services is bound to be at least a little bit different in future. In my experience, companies with new products or services to sell rarely sit back and wait until a customer asks them for an opportunity to try out their new wares. As soon as it is capable, and probably even before that, Orange Business Services is likely to be spamming its newly combined customer base with new offers in an attempt to persuade them to migrate from rival services.