Switching to VoIP (Paperback)

by Ted Wallingford (Author)
Key Phrases: converged network, packet inspection, local firewall policy, Key Issues, Replacing Call Signaling, Quality of Service (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
More and more businesses today have their receive phone service through Internet instead of local phone company lines. Many businesses are also using their internal local and wide-area network infrastructure to replace legacy enterprise telephone networks. This migration to a single network carrying voice and data is called convergence, and it's revolutionizing the world of telecommunications by slashing costs and empowering users. The technology of families driving this convergence is called VoIP, or Voice over IP.

VoIP has advanced Internet-based telephony to a viable solution, piquing the interest of companies small and large. The primary reason for migrating to VoIP is cost, as it equalizes the costs of long distance calls, local calls, and e-mails to fractions of a penny per use. But the real enterprise turn-on is how VoIP empowers

businesses to mold and customize telecom and datacom solutions using a single, cohesive networking platform. These business drivers are so compelling that legacy telephony is going the way of the dinosaur, yielding to Voice over IP as the dominant enterprise communications paradigm.

Developed from real-world experience by a senior developer, O'Reilly's "Switching to VoIP" provides solutions for the most common VoIP migration challenges. So if you're a network professional who is migrating from a traditional telephony system to a modern, feature-rich network, this book is a must-have. You'll

discover the strengths and weaknesses of circuit-switched and packet-switched networks, how VoIP systems impact network infrastructure, as well as solutions for common challenges involved with IP voice migrations. Among the challenges discussed andprojects presented:

building a softPBX

configuring IP phones

ensuring quality of service

scalability

standards-compliance

topological considerations

coordinating a complete system ?switchover?

migrating applications like voicemail and directory

services

retro-interfacing to traditional telephony

supporting mobile users

security and survivability

dealing with the challenges of NAT

To help you grasp the core principles at work, "Switching to VoIP" uses a combination of strategy and hands-on "how-to" that introduce VoIP routers and media gateways, various makes of IP telephone equipment, legacy analog phones, IPTables and Linux firewalls, and the Asterisk open source PBX software by Digium.

You'll learn how to build an IP-based or legacy-compatible phone system and voicemail system complete with e-mail integration while becoming familiar with VoIP protocols and devices. "Switching to VoIP" remains vendor-neutral and advocates standards, not brands. Some of the standards explored include:

SIP

H.323, SCCP, and IAX

Voice codecs

802.3af

Type of Service, IP precedence, DiffServ, and RSVP

802.1a/b/g WLAN

If VoIP has your attention, like so many others, then Switching to VoIP will help you build your own system, install it, and begin making calls. It's the only thing left between you and a modern telecom network.

About the Author
Ted Wallingford is an executive technologist and the co-founder of Best Technology Strategy LLC, a company which helps entrepreneurs and established companies alike in the adoption, integration, and successful use of communication systems and business processes. A global thought leader on the subject of VoIP and Internet Protocol communications, Ted has emerged as an expert in the emerging fields of network convergence and unified business communication. Ted has written two technology books for O'Reilly Media, and has appeared on NPR Science Friday. He also periodically writes for Macworld Magazine and maintains the Signal to Noise blog. He resides in Cleveland, OH.

Product Details

• Paperback: 502 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; illustrated edition edition (June 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596008686
• ISBN-13: 978-0596008680
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #225,941 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good choice for investigating VoIP for your organization..., August 22, 2005

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It seems like Voice over Internet Protocol, aka VoIP, is starting to become much more mainstream. Not only are businesses switching over, but now you can set up your home phone access to use VoIP (aka "broadband") technology. Ted Wallingford has done a nice job in explaining the business side of the possibilities in the book Switching to VoIP - A Solutions Manual for Network Professionals.

Contents: Voice and Data - Two Separate Worlds?; Voice over Data - Many Conversations, One Network; Linux as a PBX; Circuit-Switched Telephony; Enterprise Telephone Applications; Replacing the Voice Circuit with VoIP; Replacing Call Signaling with VoIP; VoIP Readiness; Quality of Service; Security and Monitoring; Troubleshooting Tools; PSTN Trunks; Network Infrastructure for VoIP; Traditional Apps on the Converged Network; What Can Go Wrong?; VoIP Vendors and Services; Asterisk Reference; SIP Methods and Responses; AGI Commands; Asterisk Manager Socket API Syntax; Glossary; Index

I think the biggest thing to keep in mind when approaching this book is the target audience. While there are a few books out there on "internet telephones" that talk to the consumer, this isn't one of them. The tag line of "for Network Professionals" is the key here. While you don't have to be a network guru to read this book, some level of familiarity with network and telephony concepts would help. Someone either working with the communication systems in a company or heading up a communications department would be a perfect match here. You'd probably even do alright if you just have an interest in the subject, as Wellingford does a good job taking what can be complex material and making it understandable. An admirable task in itself...

What makes this book stand out from other books I'd expect to see is that it doesn't just dwell on jargon and theory. There are a number of projects included in the book so you can get your hands dirty actually working with the technology. Add to that the fact that the author uses an open source PBX system called Asterisk for the exercises. So now you have no reason in terms of cost for not diving right in.

Although I'm not necessarily the target audience for this book, I'd have no problem recommending it to someone looking for material that covers this subject. The book is very well written, and after finishing it you should have a very firm grasp of the essentials. You might even know enough to start yourself on your next career path... :)

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good, August 4, 2005

By	Darin Rand (Stayton, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As the telcom manager for a rather large enterprise (45,000 users) I try to keep up on the various books on VoIP and this one is pretty good. It is designed towards someone who is knowledgeable about voice and data but not necessarily someone how is an expert in either subject. It also does a very good job of not focusing on any one type of technology but covers H.323, SIP and Cisco amongst many others and gives you a good sense of each flavor that is available. I would recommend it for anyone looking to deploy VoIP.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very thorough introduction, January 23, 2007

By	orangekay (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I can't say this book will answer every question you might have about every piece of VoIP hardware on the market today, but it does a pretty good job of building an understanding of the core concepts shared amongst all the brand names so that you can make the jump from general to specific without too much hair pulling. If any specific product is given more attention than others, it's Asterisk, but that's not only welcome, it's unavoidable given the subject matter. The treatment it receives here also beats the everloving tar out of the O'Reilly book dedicated to Asterisk exclusively.