Working with telecom consultants.

Architects aren't strangers to using consultants. Designers regularly employ specialists to fix engineering, lighting, landscaping, and other important details in their projects. These days, architects are turning more frequently to a new type of consultant for the digital age—one that specializes in networking, telecommunications, and audio/visual systems, as sophisticated communications technologies become essential elements in buildings. The elevated role of communications consultants results from the increasing willingness of corporations, universities, healthcare organizations, and others to embrace maturing technologies like videoconferencing and so-called "converged" networks, which merge data and voice traffic over a single digital infrastructure.