Cisco IP Telephony (Cisco Certification & Training)

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. Cisco IP Telephony explains how to design and build voice infrastructures in which call-control services are provided by one or more CallManager units. In addition to his coverage of CallManager, David Lovell pays attention to the 7900 series of IP phones and to Cisco's line of voice gateway products, as well as products that improve the reliability of IP phones. Consider this book a comprehensive guide to configuring CallManager and designing dial plans under it. Look elsewhere for detailed discussions of how to configure routers for VoIP quality of service (QoS) and bandwidth requirements. Consider Cisco CallManager Fundamentals for more detailed information on CallManager call flows, particularly as they relate to activity across multiple geographic sites, and practical matters like fail-safe routing of emergency calls.

David Lovell, a Cisco instructor, first shows how to configure CallManager clusters (he explains CallManager concepts like partitions and route groups, and uses step-by-step procedures to show how to set them up). Coverage includes such new features as music on hold (MOH) servers and the Bulk Administration Tool (BAT). Later chapters use the same instructional style to explain Survivable Remote Site Telephony (SRST) and a handful of applications: WebAttendant, IP SoftPhone, and Unity messaging. Coverage of the applications is pretty scanty (and there's nothing on the IP Contact Center--IPCC--application), but it's enough to get readers oriented, and the deep CallManager coverage more than compensates. --David Wall

Topics covered: The suite of clients, infrastructure devices, call-control systems, and, to a limited extent, applications that make up Cisco Systems' voice over IP offerings. Emphasis falls on CallManager 3.1, particularly on configuring it to talk to telephony devices and to recognize users. The Bulk Administration Tool (BAT), CallManager numbering and route plans, redundancy strategies (including those that use Survivable Remote Site Telephony--SRST), and design best practices all get attention.