Voice over IP Fundamentals - Softcover

Davidson, Jonathan, M.D.; Peters, James; Bhatia, Manoj; Kalidindi, Satish; Mukherjee, Sudipto

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1587052571 ISBN 13: 9781587052576

Publisher: Cisco Systems, 2006

Synopsis

A systematic approach to understanding the basics of voice over IP

 

Understand the basics of enterprise and public telephony networking, IP networking, and how voice is transported over IP networks

Learn the various caveats of converging voice and data networks

Examine the basic VoIP signaling protocols (H.323, MGCP/H.248, SIP) and primary legacy voice signaling protocols (ISDN, C7/SS7)

Explore how VoIP can run the same applications as the existing telephony system but in a more cost-efficient and scalable manner

Delve into such VoIP topics as jitter, latency, packet loss, codecs, QoS tools, and security

 

Voice over IP (VoIP) has become an important factor in network communications, promising lower operational costs, greater flexibility, and a variety of enhanced applications. To help you understand VoIP networks, Voice over IP Fundamentals provides a thorough introduction to the basics of VoIP.

 

Voice over IP Fundamentals explains how a basic IP telephony infrastructure is built and works today, major concepts concerning voice and data networking, and transmission of voice over data networks. You’ll learn how voice is signaled through legacy telephone networks, how IP signaling protocols are used to interoperate with current telephony systems, and how to ensure good voice quality using quality of service (QoS).

 

Even though Voice over IP Fundamentals is written for anyone seeking to understand how to use IP to transport voice, its target audience comprises both voice and data networking professionals. In the past, professionals working in voice and data networking did not have to understand each other’s roles. However, in this world of time-division multiplexing (TDM) and IP convergence, it is important to understand how these technologies work together. Voice over IP Fundamentals explains all the details so that voice experts can understand data networking and data experts can understand voice networking.

 

The second edition of this best-selling book includes new chapters on the importance of billing and mediation in a VoIP network, security, and the common types of threats inherent when packet voice environments, public switched telephone networks (PSTN), and VoIP interoperate. It also explains enterprise and service-provider applications and services. 

About this title

Review

The authors of Voice over IP Fundamentals--three packet-voice specialists at Cisco Systems--initiate their exploration of next-generation technologies for supporting conversations across large distances: the switched telephone network as implemented on large (intercontinental) and small (building and enterprise) scales. They then point out problems with the old way of doing things and illuminate the standards and regulatory conditions that have made Internet telephony attractive. Signaling System 7 (SS7) gets particularly insightful coverage, with ample graphical support for the clear, fact-rich, example-laden prose.

The authors do a great service for readers by breaking packet telephony into its component technologies and explaining each one carefully. Coverage of the various protocols that enable voice over IP, particularly H.323 and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), is simultaneously clear and deep. The same goes for media gateway protocols and various schemes for translating sounds into digital signals and back again, while retaining maximum clarity. There's even some practical material; concluding chapters diagram Cisco router configurations for voice traffic and flesh out solutions with case studies.

You'll like this book if you need to implement a voice over IP system and know more about IP than you do about traditional voice telecommunications. The patient and detailed explanations of traditional telephony concepts and voice over IP protocols will mesh nicely with your existing data communications knowledge, enabling you to make wise design and product decisions. --David Wall

Covered topics: The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), signaling specifications (including Bell System, ISDN, and Signaling System 7), the basics of Internet Protocol (IP), modulation and compression of voice, Quality of Service (QoS), H.323, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and gateway protocols. Business considerations of Internet telephony are also addressed.

About the Author

Jonathan Davidson, CCIE No. 2560, is the Director of SP Solution Engineering in Integrated Network Systems Engineering. He has co-authored Voice over IP Fundamentals and edited Deploying Cisco Voice over IP. He has been with Cisco for 10 years in post-sales support, marketing, and engineering divisions.

James Peters is the Director of Product Marketing in the Carrier Core and Multiservice Business Unit at Cisco Systems. He co-authored the first edition of Voice over IP Fundamentals and is currently authoring a book on multiservice networking. James has more than 20 years experience in building, designing Internet-based voice and data networks, and product development.

Manoj Bhatia is a Business Development Manager for Partner Programs at IP Communications Business Unit (IPCBU) for Cisco Systems, Inc. He was among the first to start the software development for SIP technology on Cisco VoIP gateways and IOS-based routers. His past projects include technical marketing for VoIP products such as media gateways, call agents, and SIP-based residential voice solutions. Prior to Cisco, Manoj worked in Nortel Networks and Summa Four (now Cisco) and has 14+ years of experience in telephony protocols such as SS7, call control, and VoIP technologies.

Satish Kalidindi is a Software Engineer with Cisco Systems. He has more than six years experience working on development and deployment of VoIP technologies. He has been involved with various products, including IOS gateways and Cisco CallManager. More recently he has been involved with security features on CCM. He is a graduate of Purdue University with an M.S in Engineering.

Sudipto Mukherjee is a Software Development Engineer with Cisco Systems. He has product development and deployment experience for a variety of telecommunication devices for wireline, wireless, and VoIP networks. More recently at Cisco he has been working on SIP gateway development. Sudipto has a Bachelors of Engineering degree in Electronics Communication engineering from GS Institute of Technology, Indore and a Masters degree in Electronics Design and technology from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

 

Edition details

• Publisher: Cisco Systems
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1587052571
• ISBN 13: 9781587052576
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 394