Customer Reviews

Integrating Voice and Data Networks (Cisco Press Core Series)

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This book is a must-have for anyone implementing a data/voice project. The author is a CCIE who has worked for both Cisco and Pacific Bell. The book demonstrates the author's detailed understanding of the relevant standards, protocols, and implementation issues, including VoIP, VoATM, VoFR, SS7, digital and analog voice, QoS, etc.

Don't be thrown off by the 800 pages. The author is such a great writer that he manages to explain everything so that anyone can understand it. But he doesn't over-simplify to the point of being wrong, like some authors. (Some of the first books that came out on voice/data were basically the author's PowerPoint slides ported to book format, errors and over-simplifications included.) Scott Keagy took care in producing a comprehensive book that doesn't gloss over the issues voice/data integrators will encounter. Get this book for studying for Cisco tests, but more importantly, get this book if you need help designing and implementing an integrated voice/data network.

I specialize in voice/data interworking and this is, by far, the best (single) book on the market for anyone working in this area. Just the coverage of telephony concepts alone is worth the cost of the book. This one is definitely going to be a classic in the same way as "Top Down Network Design" is. Frankly, this book has so much good information in it I wouldn't even know where to begin reviewing it.

That said, there are a few very minor issues I have with the book. For example, the coverage of some topics (like W/RED and TCP), while very well-written, has little to do with voice. The section on ATM is pretty sparse, and the author occasionally makes some statements that seem somewhat strange and point to a somewhat Cisco-centric mindset (e.g. claiming that SONET doesn't have a relationship to voice technology -- the primary goal of SONET was carrying TDM (read : voice) traffic.). The treatment of the E and EIR models was very good, but coverage of voice quality testing in general could have been somewhat better.

Overall though, this is a book I would wholeheartedly recommend. If you only own one book on voice and data, this is the one (if fact, it could very well be the only one you need.)

I'm a real person with no stake in the sales or success of this book. In my opinion, this one belongs on the shelf next to Doyle and Clark/Hamilton. This is the best book out so far on Cisco data/voice integration (I've read the rest). It covers everything...designing dial plans and hooking up to PBXx, QOS internals, etc. This one is going to be a classic. Now, would anyone please write one on CallManager? Anyone? Anyone? Beuler?

Anyone interested in understanding where voice technology is going in the future needs to know something about where it's been. This book provides a complete guide to the essentials of what makes traditional voice networks tick as well as a thorough treatment of current and future voice technologies, such as VoIP, VoFR and VoATM. The focus of the book is not to promote one form of voice over the other - as the title suggests, it is to provide the reader a guide of how to interwork them.

Important considerations for carrying voice over packet media are detailed. Quality of Service, bandwidth control and signaling (both TDM and packet-based) are covered extensively. This book is a must read for any professional working with realtime communications.

I bought the 1st edition back in 2000 and since then it is still the most frequently visited reference when I helped my clients to build VoIP networks. It was written completely from a hands-on engineer perspective, aiming at getting the job done. So you would expect very detailed description on signaling ..., design scenario, IOS programming and trouble-shooting in debug mode. My favourite parts are the coverage on Echo, dial-peer programming and SIP. After finishing a SIP network project, I'm just amazed how a book in year 2000 can provide such a farsighted material.

Keagy brings up a lot of important issues a level deeper than most books on the subject. It is a great reference book but most sections are readable all the way through. If you are moderately technical or very technical you'll get something out of this book. The more books you buy the subject the more you'll appreciate this one for its attention to detail and clarity.

I'm a qualified Cisco CCSI/Microsoft course trainer, and needed a book to get me started in the area of Voice networks in a reasonably technical, practical and non-trivial manner. I definitely found it in this book. Keagy provided an excellent overview of the operational details of voice networks & SS7, and married this well to Voice-IP networks and WAN technologies. It was refreshing in that, although Cisco oriented, you are thankfully spared the worst of Cisco's product placement sales pitch (for which you'd need the CVoice book). In fact I can concur with other reviewers in that Keagy's obvious practical experience, mature expressive style with plenty of useful figures/illustrations (which I personally as a trainer really appreciate) and ability to impart knowledge in an enjoyable worldly manner shine throughout in the text in a style that is remniscent of Doyle Routing - I look forward to more books by Keagy (hopefully his wife will let him :o)
Although you can buy books that cover the individual chapters in more detail (Keagy provides numerous references), this single tome is a must for anyone breaking into the trendy area of Voice from a predominantly data networking background.

This book may be overkill for the CCIE R&S track, but if you want to UNDERSTAND VoX and related technologies, this book is awesome. Now I feel like jumping over to the C&S track.

I haven't read the whole book, I'm 50% done, but the first impression is that there's too much theorical information, but I think we really need that. That's absolutely a wonderful resource. After reading some parts of this book I was able to setup a successful VoIP connection. This book also helps to understand the codecs, problems you can find, etc..

Good choice!

Daniel Lafraia
CCNP,CCDP

This was one of the best technology books I have ever read. I would rank this book on the same level as the Doyle Routing and the Clark switching books. Explanations where clear and throughly laid out. After reading this book I am more confident in my knowledge of VOIP than ever before. This book will benefit all engineers involved in VOIP projects, not just specific to Cisco. I am currently working on a VOIP project for Lucent and the knowledge I obtained from this book has proved invaluable.