Reviews (6)

Practical Advice for Converting to IP Telephony
Switching to IP Telephony is one of those decisions that the CEO finds easy to make.Costs decline quite a lot and quality of performance is promised to be acceptable.
This will separate the successful from the failures!
Many of us have decided to put away our legacy PBX systems and install a VoIP based communication platform, and with all of the benefits clearly visible, we often jump into action without fully realizing the scope of what we are about to undertake.In a VoIP deployment, so many factors must be considered in the design, that often things are left out.In the deployments where QoS, switching infrastructure, and overall network design are ignored, you see problems with reliability and an overall bad taste left in the mouth of the end user.With proper planning, the problems experienced by these design flaws (or often lack of design) can be overcome, and the true glory of the VoIP system will be seen. Cisco has designed an awesome assortment of VoIP enabling technologies, that when used together can, and will, change the way we do business for the better, but only if you have a solid foundation of planning.
A very good book for design engineers.
If you design networks or just want to get a better understanding of Cisco IP Telephony technology pick up this book. Its a great reference and a daily problem solver for your job. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Communications / Networking    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Communications / Networking    5. Networking - General    6. Networking - Network Protocols    7. Telephone Engineering    8. Computer Communications & Networking    9. Computers / Networking / General   

Reviews (3)

How to get the most out of CallManager
Want to kn ow how to get the most out of CallManager???
A great book for experienced IP Telephony engineers .
Cisco CallManager Best Practices is a very well written book with plenty of useful information.However, please note, this is not an introductory book for Cisco IP Telephony.As its name implies, this book provides "best practices" for installing, running and optimizing an IP Telephony network.Thus, this book should be used by experienced IP Telephony engineers in order to plan new deployment or optimize existing IP Telephony networks.
How to get the most out of CallManager
Telephones used to be so simple. You called Ma Bell, explained a few things like number of individual telephones, you waited a while, then the equipment showed up and you started writing a check each month. Data transmission was at best a secondary requirement (maybe not even that high). Not so anymore.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Communications / Networking    4. Data Transmission Standards And Protocols    5. Networking - General    6. Telephone Engineering    7. Communications engineering / telecommunications    8. Computer Communications & Networking    9. Computers / Networking / General   

Editorial Review

The authors of Read more

Reviews (12)

Good book.Good vendor
The book is a very comprehensive introduction to VOIP.It is a very good beginning for anyone with either good networking or good telCo. experience.This book would also be useful for a person with a combination of some net & some telco.It is a technical read, but no so much as to be difficult to get through.A person with no true experience may find themselves a little bit out of their element and should be prepared to do some reference work.

Difficult book to read and understand
Although this book is but 15 chapters and 336 pages long it took me an incredible amount of time to read through it due to the complexity with which it was written.I've read several Cisco Press books in the same time it took to read this one!Further, I found myself asking the question over and over again, "If this book is about the fundamentals of Voice over IP and is 'A Systematic Approach to Understanding the Basics of Voice over IP', why is it difficult to grasp even the 'basics' as presented by the authors?"As stated in a previous review, the authors have a great understanding of the topics, however, like my Theory of Operating Systems instructor, they do not do well in 'dumbing' down that information to me, a layperson in this field.This book was definitely written by VoIP engineers for VoIP engineers, not for beginners like myself.

Best suited for Telephony engineers
Strong Points: -The people who wrote it are definitely knowledgeable: They have loads of information about almost every topic they discuss -Chapter organization: the chapters are well organized as far as the order in which to expose a reader to the topics, building up to the next. Weak Points: -In almost every chapter, the author(s) frequently mention or compare the topic being discussed with an actual Cisco product.While many people agree they make good products, including myself, this book should be about the VoIP as a standard (as the title implies), not Cisco's products. -The author(s) explain most topics by throwing tons of (or too much) information at the reader, including exceptions to the rule - all in the same sentence.Some of the key points are not even mentioned or elaborated on, while the author goes to point out small or insignificant details. -While discussing the history of Telephony and VoIP technology, the use of acronyms is unavoidable, but the author(s) overuses them to the extreme.At times, there are synonym acronyms that the author(s) will use randomly and interchangeably in the same chart, diagram or sentence; this is highly confusing.Also, there is no glossary, so you have to waste time flipping back through the pages to look up acronyms they spelled out once.Many acronyms are not even defined - they are just mentioned as casual talk to define other acronyms (so have your internet browser ready). -The author(s) frequently define topics and acronyms sections or chapters after they are first mentioned.This is also very confusing and frustrating. -The book is filled with charts and graphs.Most of them you really have to study to understand because they use many little pictures for which there is no legend, and some you flat our need an electrical engineering degree to understand. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Acoustics & Sound    2. Computer Bks - Communications / Networking    3. Computers - Communications / Networking    4. Networking - General    5. Networking - Network Protocols    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Telephone Engineering    9. Computer Communications & Networking    10. Computers / Networking / General   

Reviews (1)

The Best Book Out There on this Topic
Configuring CallManager and Unity: A Step-by-Step Guide (ISBN 1-58705-196-6) by David Bateman is perhaps the best book currently out there on this subject. It is over 500 pages and has all the elements of an indispensable book: easy to read, practical in its approach, well organized, and packed with current, useful, and up-to-date information. If you are involved in configuring or maintaining the Cisco CallManger suite of VoIP telephony, you simply can not do without this book.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Communications / Networking    4. Data Transmission Systems - General    5. Internet - General    6. Networking - General    7. Telephone Engineering    8. Computer Communications & Networking    9. Computers / Networking / General   

Reviews (5)

Its about time!
This is the Bible on Telephone Systems and it only took 100 years to write.I was searching for a long time for such a book only to be disappointed time and again.From beginner to expert the book has something for everyone and goes into great detail about topics not usually found elsewhere like switching fabrics and photonics as applied to formal telecom.Dr. Thompson has created the defacto standard reference for the true, hardcore, telecom professional and others who seek to enter this domain.I would recommend the book specifically to those in or entering the field of Voice over IP to gain a solid perspective on what they will be dealing with when it comes to convergence.

Good reference; poor introduction
Don't waste your money on this tome if you're a beginner like myself.However, if you are a professional, this would be a great reference to have on your desk.A more detailed book on telephone switches probably doesn't exist. More pictures and tables would be helpful
This is a "the real deal" book for beginner in switching and telephony world. Although this book requires some preliminary knowledge of North American industrial telephony standards and understanding, the author tried (as best as he could) to explain everything in details. There are no skipped topics, to be concerned.Read more

Subjects:  1. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    2. Science/Mathematics    3. Technology    4. Technology & Industrial Arts    5. Telecommunications    6. Telephone Engineering    7. Telephone switching systems, E    8. Telephone switching systems, Electronic    9. Telephone technology   

Reviews (1)

Good overview of the tools available.
I have to admit that this is not a book that I have read cover to cover. I have dipped into it to cover topics listed in the CCIE voice exam. I have found it to be very useful in that respect. For each topic it gives an overview and brief details on configuration before going on to explain how to troubleshoot problems. It will not replace the troubleshooting resources available on CCO, but it will give you a great place to start!Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Communications / Networking    4. Data Transmission Standards And Protocols    5. Internet telephony    6. Networking - General    7. Networking - Network Protocols    8. Telecommunications    9. Telephone Engineering    10. Computers / Networking / General    11. Networking standards & protocols   

Editorial Review

Cisco Systems has lately become aggressive in promoting applications of the IP network infrastructure equipment that the company has traditionally sold. Cisco CallManager--the subject of Read more

Reviews (10)

WARNING! This book is outdated!
One of the other customer reviews for this book (which may have been removed by now because I have complained about it) says: "This book has been updated to include the 4.1 version, a big improvement over the old book which covered 3.0 or maybe 3.1."
Thankfully a New and Updated Edition to Cover v4.1
Thankfully, a new edition. This is hands down the best book available on using the Cisco CallManager system. Unfortunately the first edition came out in 2001, since then the software has gone through at least five revision levels. This book has been updated to include the 4.1 version, a big improvement over the old book which covered 3.0 or maybe 3.1.
Great Book, but not updated
This is a great book for the new Cisco Phone administrator, but please realize that although it is in its 7th printing, it has not been updated.I ordered this book and found that most of the information I was looking for was on items added after CCM 3.1 (which is the version that is covered in this book). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Communications / Networking    4. Data Transmission Systems - General    5. Internet - General    6. Networking - General    7. Telephone Engineering    8. Computer Communications & Networking    9. Computers / Networking / General   

Editorial Review

Digitizing voice signals and transmitting them over an IP network offers tremendous advantages, particularly in closely controlled environments like offices and contact centers. Cisco Systems sees voice over IP (VoIP) as a strategic opportunity, and therefore has innovated considerably in the area. Read more

Reviews (11)

Cisco IP Telephony by David Lovell
Cisco IP Telephony Don't bother.
This book is poorly put together, dry, repetative, and does a very poor job of explaning the material.Whatever good there is in it seems verbatim from Cisco's web site. Very hard to read and understand. May not be what you want!!
I am preparing for CIPT exam. I thought this was the preparation guide for CIPT. I was hoping that this book goes in depth analysis of all components of CIPT clearly. In my opinion, this book is short of explaining VoIP protocols. It needs a little more elaboration on the fundamentals. For example, I read about clusters in this book. I was very much confused. Then I read about the same subject in Cisco CallManager Fundamentals. It was actually a streightforward concept. All discriptions in the book are confusing, and insufficient. I vote strongly against this book if you are planning to buy this book only because you are preparing for the CIPT test. It might be a good reference for using the CallManager menus. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computers - Communications / Networking    2. Data Transmission Standards And Protocols    3. Internet telephony    4. Networking - Network Protocols    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technology    7. Telecommunications    8. Telephone Engineering    9. Computer Communications & Networking    10. Computers / Networking / General    11. Telephone technology   

Reviews (9)

Softswitch kind of explained
This book, sometimes gets it right and sometimes doesnt. The graphics are not great and they should be. Some of the tables employed are not significant enough to explain the points started. I think this book takes a small bite when it should be taking a large chunk out of explaining the subject matter.

Softswitch at your own risk!
I got this book because the book claims to evaluate softswitch advantages as a Class 4 replacement. I work for a telecommunications company and one of our projects was to expand our long distance capability at the lowest costs possible. We evaluated the softswitches out there and determined the technology had not matured enough to replace hardware switches.
Did I just buy a sales presentation?
It was not until after I purchased this book and started to read it did I discover that the author "has many years experience in sales of VoIP and softswitch platforms." It shows. This book does not read like a major reference and learning tool, but more like a sales seminar only to answer potential customer's objections on softswitch technology.
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Subjects:  1. Computers - Communications / Networking    2. Internet - General    3. Internet telephony    4. Networking - General    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Switching theory    7. Technology    8. Telecommunications    9. Telephone Engineering    10. Communications engineering / telecommunications    11. Internet    12. Networking standards & protocols    13. Other software packages    14. Technology / Telecommunications   

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Engineering - Electrical & Electronic    4. Hardware - Handheld Computing    5. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    6. Technology & Industrial Arts    7. Telecommunications    8. Telephone Engineering    9. Computers / Operating Systems / General    10. Storage media & peripherals   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Communications / Networking    2. Computers - Communications / Networking    3. Data Transmission Standards And Protocols    4. Data Transmission Systems - General    5. Digital telephone systems    6. Networking - General    7. Networking - Network Protocols    8. Science/Mathematics    9. Technology    10. Telecommunications    11. Telephone Engineering    12. Communications engineering / telecommunications    13. Computer Communications & Networking    14. Computers / Networking / General   

Reviews (6)

Look further.
If you ended your search on this book, I would say you can do better. I tried to read to the book taking all approaches I know, but it seems this book is not supposed to read at all. Seems like it was written not with the intention to serve but for just the sake of it.
Typically awfulBob Edgar authored book
Edgar strikes again. If this guy would spend as much time doing his research as he does in self-promotion, this book would be great. Unfortunately, for whatever reason (most likely personality defect) the hype is the thing. useless
PC Telephony is the "manual" of Parity Software's VOS programand is targeted at novice PC telephony programmers. The book describebriefly several Dialogic boards that and the way VOS override CProgramming. The book is interesting for those wishing to test or adoptParity's VOS for programming their Dialogic Boards... BUT recently Parityreleased its new version of VOS. Spend your money on another book ! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computers - Communications / Networking    2. Data Transmission Systems - General    3. Microcomputer Sound    4. Networking - General    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technology    7. Telecommunications    8. Telephone Engineering    9. Speech processing systems    10. Telephone   

Reviews (8)

Excellent IT Planning Guide
This book offers good strategies for implementing VoIP. It covers the feasability studies required and pre and post evaluation of the network. Technical details is covered well but the most important aspects such as QoS, SLA's are taken care of which is an important area when dealing with VoIP.

VoIP From a Business Perspective
John Walker and Jeffrey Hicks's "Taking Charge of Your VoIP Project" (ISBN: 1587200929, Cisco Press) is an installment in Cisco's Network Business Series line of books and covers the topic of voice over IP (VoIP) from a business strategy perspective.Although the book does cover some technical aspects of VoIP, its main purpose is to guide the reader in understanding the steps from beginning to end on how to develop a business case all the way to deploying a successful and secure VoIP deployment.The book covers eight major areas:
Don't Start Without It!
I recently read the book titled "Taking Charge Of Your VoIP Project" by John Q. Walker and Jeffrey T. Hicks.ISBN: 1587200929.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer networks    2. Computers - Communications / Networking    3. Internet - General    4. Internet telephony    5. Networking - General    6. Science/Mathematics    7. Technology    8. Telecommunications    9. Telephone Engineering    10. Computers / Networking / General    11. Networking standards & protocols   

Reviews (10)

Superficial
I bought this book to better understand the inner workings of SIP but, instead, was greeted with a superficial introduction to a miriad of SIP applications, services and options. At the end of the day RFC3261 is a much better source of information, as dry as it might be. As such, I cannot recommend this book to anyone trying to learn the intricacies of SIP.

Disorganized and too shallow
This books presents SIP, the protocol for Session Initiation. It covers many aspects, including conferencing, security, Internet telephony, user preferences.
Excelelnt orientation
I am new to the SIP protocol and thisi book gave me exactly what i was seeking: a comprehensive explanation of the SIP architecture and the uses of SIP. The specific chapters on SIP and User Services, Security, IP telephony, DNS and QoS all provided the basics necessary to understand the tradeoffs and issues with implementing SIP. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Communications / Networking    2. Computer Networks    3. Computer network protocols    4. Computers - Communications / Networking    5. Internet - General    6. Internet telephony    7. Multimedia systems    8. Networking - General    9. Networking - Network Protocols    10. Science/Mathematics    11. Technology    12. Telecommunications    13. Telephone Engineering    14. Computers / Networking / General    15. Internet    16. Networking standards & protocols   

Reviews (1)

This is a must read for anyone migrating from TDM to IPT.
The Road to IP Telephony is a project manager's guide for a successful migration from TDM to IP Telephony.It's a must read for anyone involved with or interested in the project side of migrating from a traditional TDM environment to IP Telephony.This book will take you step by step through the project process and, I believe if followed, will ensure a successful implementation and migration to IP Telephony.Even if you are not on the project management side, reading this book will help you see the big picture and understand how the process will affect you. This book does not require an understanding of the technical issues involved, although the book does outline technical issues that need to be addressed during the migration.
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Subjects:  1. Computers - Communications / Networking    2. Internet - General    3. Networking - General    4. Networking - Network Protocols    5. Science/Mathematics    6. Technology    7. Telecommunications    8. Telephone Engineering    9. Computer Communications & Networking    10. Computers / Networking / General    11. Telephone technology   

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business Life - Health/Stress    3. Business/Economics    4. Call centers    5. Customer Service    6. Job stress    7. Psychology    8. Stress Management    9. Telecommunications    10. Telephone Engineering    11. Coping with stress    12. Media, information & communication industries    13. Call Center   

Reviews (2)

Superb Book!
I'm a corporate IT professional and smartphone user. I've been looking for a Series 60 smartphone book as a basis for training our staff and helping them become more efficient. For the longest time there was nothing...and then I discovered this. I can't express how happy I am with this book. It's much more than a "Missing Manual." In fact, it's incredibly rich and useful, and the add-on applications it covers illustrate how to get even more "smartness" from smartphones, a point that the manufacturers haven't yet adequately communicated to the general public. Superb book!

UNBELIEVEABLE!!!
I saw this book last week at a tradeshow in Cannes, France (3GSM World Congress) and I was blown away.I never realized the extent of how similar to my Windows PC my non-Windows smartphone (Nokia 7610) is!The book outlines cool tricks like copy/paste and also gives tips on applications users can buy and install to their phone after they begin using it.Believe me, the price is minimal for the value included in this book! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Cellular telephones    2. Computers - General Information    3. Hardware - Handheld Computing    4. Science/Mathematics    5. Technology    6. Telecommunications    7. Telephone Engineering    8. Computers / Hardware / Handheld Computing    9. Special kinds of photography    10. Telephone technology    11. Computers   

Reviews (2)

Most people will not like this book
This book will not teach most readers anything practical about VOIP. I am a CCNP, with a BSEE and Masters degree, and this is the first technical book that I have come across in a long time that will not give me even a single paragraph of useful information that I can deliver to my class room of technical students who want to learn more about VOIP. The only value I can find so far, is that the author references a bunch of RFCs that are related to VOIP. Since this author is probably going to keep writing books, here is my message to the author. You probably dedicated many years of your life to VOIP and related subjects, and perhaps this makes you an "expert". But the average technical person in the world would greatly appreciate a layman's term high level introduction paragraph or 2, to each and every single technical subject that you are going to talk about, before you start rattling off protocols like H.248 vs H.245 vs H.323 vs H.225 like on page 4 of your book. My only consolation to having purchased this horrible book is that I bought an inexpensive used one, right here on Amazon. This book had nothing but 5 stars by the previous Amazon reviewers and I trusted their judgement. Boy are they wrong! Amazon has advertized that a book called VOIP for DUMMys will be released in June 2005 and I cant wait for this book to be available. Unfortunately, my class begins next week, so I will be forced to use the dry Cisco books.
The IP infrastructure is still work in progress
We have spent the better part of the last seven years trying to create a nationwide infrastructure to support IP services and applications. In spite of the great progress, this is still work in progress.A large question still exists.How are we dealing with the physical and security limitations of packet technologies in the wide area? Some of these early concerns were covered in my first book "IP Telephony, The integration of robust VoIP services", sponsored by Hewlett-Packard / Agilent Technologies and published by Prentice-Hall.But that was only the beginning...there is a lot more work that needs to be done before we can safely say we have hit the target of ubiquitous "seamless integration" of applications and services...and let's not forget that in the end, we will have to address the manner in which we access and manipulate large scale and distributed data across the wide area.