Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express

Product Description

Telephony solutions for the small and medium business, enterprise branch office, and small office

• Detailed information not available in any other resource enables you to deploy IP telephony solutions with maximum efficiency
• Building blocks of the product features provide solutions that enhance the operations and productivity of your organization
• Numerous examples show you how to configure the comprehensive suite of features available with Cisco IPC Express
• Insights from the experts demonstrate how you can enhance your IP telephony system with applications such as automated attendant and voice mail
• Management and troubleshooting tips will help you keep your network up and running smoothly

Enterprise branches and small and medium businesses require IP telephony solutions particular to their size. Cisco® IP Communications (IPC) Express is the answer: a one-box solution that provides turnkey operation with an easy-to-use web-based interface for combined voice and data needs. Cisco IPC Express delivers a comprehensive suite of telephony features, security, and applications–but how will you use them to your best advantage?

This book, Cisco IP Communications Express, provides the detailed information you need to maximize the use of this powerful product suite. By reading this book, you will learn how Cisco IPC Express and its applications can become a business solution for your office or enterprise. The experts from Cisco Systems® give you in-depth design guidance, full configurations, and valuable examples to serve as blueprints for your network. The feature operation and deployment discussions demonstrate how to configure and customize the system and how to use different product features to achieve your specific business goals. Once you deploy your solutions, you will be able to maintain your network through the troubleshooting guidance and examples of resolutions to common problems provided in this book.

Cisco IP Communications Express is a must-have for any organization using Cisco CallManager Express or Cisco Unity® Express. Technology decision makers and network administrators will be armed with relevant information on how to deploy IP communications for their particular business needs. IT managers in larger enterprises will benefit from the plans for distributed call processing design for their networks. Service providers and resellers will be prepared to sell, install, configure, and troubleshoot Cisco IPC Express based on customer needs.  Beyond its application in the workspace, Cisco IP Communications Express will also prove helpful to those studying for Cisco voice-related certifications.

This IP communications book is part of the Cisco Press® Networking Technology Series. IP communications titles from Cisco Press help networking professionals understand voice and IP telephony technologies, plan and design converged networks, and implement network solutions for increased productivity.

Downloads

A simple Cisco Unity Express automated attendant (AA) is used in Part 4 of the book to illustrate how to isolate potential issues with AA scripting. Chapter 20 discusses the three scripts files that comprise this example AA and Appendix B shows a text representation to explain the script flow. To download the binary script files, click on the following links:
main.aef
dialbyname.aef
dialbyextension.aef

To open the script files, download the Cisco Unity Express Script Editor from Cisco.com by following the instructions below. Accessing this software application requires a Cisco.com login account.

Step 1: Go to Cisco.com.
Step 2: Search for "Software Center" and click the resulting link to the Software Center.
Step 3: Choose Voice Software (ensure that you are logged in to Cisco.com; otherwise, you do not see this choice).
Step 4: Scroll down to Cisco Unity Express Software.
Step 5: Click on the software release that you are running, or plan to run.
Step 6: Look for a file with "CUE Editor" in the description and download this application to your computer.

Links

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Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful Solid Book. add to your Library, September 4, 2005 By  Brion Washington (So Cal) - See all my reviews    This review is from: Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express (Hardcover) A must have book This book is a great tool for full and complete understanding of Cisco's IP Communication Express. The structure is geared to first provide a foundation with an overview, then moves into design and implementation the book is organized into different parts that provide great coverage of all aspects. Part I starts with introducing IP Communication. The coverage begins by taking you on a journey into what Cisco IPC is, the benefits of IPC, and the architecture of IPC networks. The one thing you notice is that the authors took great care in organizing the chapters. Each chapter is well written and easy to follow along. This makes the book a great choice as either a first learning book or as a refresher book for experienced professionals looking to augment their knowledge. One of the first chapters shows you the features and functions of the various gateways, WAN interfaces and IP phones available for use in an IPC network. This allows you to pick the... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful Very good book - not only for CCME and CUE, February 24, 2006 By  Romuald Grzywna - See all my reviews    This review is from: Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express (Hardcover) I've used this book as a main reference for my first complete implementation of CCME and CUE. I said "main" reference instead of "only" reference, because there are few small gaps to be filled by Cisco on-line documentation, but the deficiencies are too small to justify anything less than 5 stars. Additionally, there is a lot of general (IP and traditional) telephony information so even a relative beginner, after reading this book, will be able to intelligently interview future users (Chapter 5 is simply brilliant!), design quite complex system with many fancy call features, and even create scripts for quite sophisticated Auto-Attendant options. Certain concepts are not explained in complete detail (for example dial peers or voice ports), but deeply enough for the needs of CCME. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful A Complete Reference for Configuring and Managing CME, April 25, 2007 By  MessageVector "messagevector" (Ashburn, VA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express (Hardcover) Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express (ISBN 1-58705-180-X) is an all-in-one resource for configuring, managing, and troubleshooting the Cisco CallManager Express (CME) solution. It is almost 900 pages and is well organized into five parts: overview, feature operation and applications, administration and management, maintenance and troubleshooting, and appendices. If you are involved in configuring or maintaining the Cisco CallManger Express, this book will provide you with all the information you need to get your work done. Cisco CME is an integrated solution offered by Cisco for meeting the IP telephony needs of small businesses or branch offices. The CME solution, which consists of the call processing feature and the voice mail feature, runs on the Cisco routers ranging from the 1700 series to the 3700 series and beyond. Whereas the CallManager suite offers centralized approach to building out an enterprise wide VoIP network, the... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you?  Report abuse | Permalink  Comment

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Praise For Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express

Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express
Reviewer Name: Brion Washington, Senior VoIP Engineer
Reviewer Certification: CCNA, CCIE Written

A must-have book. This book is a great tool for full and complete understanding of Cisco's IP Communication Express. The structure is geared to first provide a foundation with an overview, then moves into design and implementation. The book is organized into different parts that provide great coverage of all aspects.

Part I starts with introducing IP Communication. The coverage begins by taking you on a journey into what Cisco IPC is, the benefits of IPC, and the architecture of IPC networks. The one thing you notice is that the authors took great care in organizing the chapters. Each chapter is well written and easy to follow along. This makes the book a great choice as either a first learning book or as a refresher book for experienced professionals looking to augment their knowledge. One of the first chapters shows you the features and functions of the various gateways, WAN interfaces and IP phones available for use in an IPC network. This allows you to pick the best equipment for your particular solution. I believe this is great because it allows you to learn some features of the product in order to decide if you would like to research it further; this helps streamline the process of design and political issues. Another section of Part I goes over the architecture of IPC. You will learn the ins and outs of what happens at a low level. You will learn a lot of core information, and get an introduction to equipment and technologies that can be utilized.

Part II of this book is where the fun begins. Chapter 4 goes over the IP phones in more detail. You are taught about features and how to configure the individual phones. The chapter is short and to the point. Chapter 5 is an incredible book where the engineer's ears will perk up. Call Manager Call processing features are presented in this chapter. The topics here include hunt groups, call parking, shared lines, intercom, paging and much more. I really like the configurations and examples in this book. With this chapter you will be able to quickly implement the CM features. The next chapter deals with Connectivity to the PSTN. The focuses in this chapter are signaling and how to handle the inputted digits. One of the only faults I think with this book is that chapters 5 and 6 should be swapped.

Parts III and IV cover "Administration and Management" and "Maintenance and Troubleshooting." Now is really where the techies cheer up. Here are all the goodies on how to set up CME and UE, and what to do if problems arise. The gold mine is located in these two parts. These chapters provide the reader with detail and examples to help reinforce all that is being explained.

I don't want to spoil this book or be long-winded so I will say the remaining pages of this book are well worth the read. They cover everything you need in order to obtain a solid understanding of Cisco IPC. There is no area that isn't covered with attention to detail. The authors provide quality information that is very useful in all areas of understanding and implementing Cisco IP Express. The reader will come away with exceptional and relevant knowledge to do anything needed with IPC. I got this book to help augment my 4+ years with Cisco voice products. I feel that it did help cement my knowledge and also taught me quite a few new things.

Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express
Reviewer Name: Josh Kittle, Network Engineer
Reviewer Certification: CCNA

Over the past several years, Cisco has been providing unparallelled VoIP solutions to the enterprise with its IP telephony product lines, including Cisco CallManager and Cisco Unity, and changing the way we communicate forever. Initially, these VoIP solutions were only within the reach of the enterprise customer with the money and resources to deploy these systems. With the new IPC Express platform, Cisco is changing that, and enabling the small and medium businesses to also benefit from the advantages of a VoIP system, at a much lower cost than was formerly attainable. This convergence of voice and data technologies has already proven very beneficial in the enterprise, now the small and medium sized businesses can also reap those same benefits and advantages, while staying within their budget. Cisco IP Communications Express: CallManager Express with Cisco Unity Express, a recent addition to the Cisco Press library, is the definitive guide to design and deployment of these solutions. The authors have gone the distance with this book in providing insight into the design and deployment considerations of these systems. For the network engineer, and business associate alike, this guide will prove valuable in the decision to implement VoIP solutions using the Cisco IPC Express platforms.

From the beginning, VoIP technology, with a focus on the small to medium business, is discussed. While other books cover material geared toward the enterprise user, this book does an excellent job focusing on the target audience, the small and medium business. Mini case studies are presented throughout the book with examples appropriate for the small and medium business architecture. The authors provide very detailed examples of typical configuration tasks, and even walk you through a mock-deployment. Detailed configuration processes for both CallManager Express and Unity Express will certainly prove invaluable to the network engineer deploying this solution. Detailed call routing configuration is explained, with an emphasis on dial-peer configuration. With the level of detail the authors have provided in these configuration tasks, nobody should be left in the dark. Integration applications with both H.323 and SIP protocols are explained in detail. This functionality adds value to this system in almost any environment, H.323 or SIP. A detailed explanation of troubleshooting processes will guide you through resolving many of the system issues, which you may encounter as part of your Cisco IPC Express system deployment.

The authors have done a wonderful job with this book in preparing the reader to successfully deploy an IPC Express system. I would highly recommend this book to anybody designing, installing, or even just considering an IPC Express system. This book is a must-have addition to any engineer's library.

Index

Download - 71 KB -- Index

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I                          Cisco IP Communications Express Overview

Chapter 1                 Introducing Cisco IPC Express

Chapter 2               Building a Cisco IPC Express Network

Chapter 3               Cisco IPC Express Architecture Overview

Part II                         Feature Operation and Applications

Chapter 4               Cisco IP Phone Options

Chapter 5               Cisco CME Call Processing Features

Chapter 6               Cisco CME PSTN Connectivity Options

Chapter 7               Connecting Multiple Cisco CMEs with VoIP

Chapter 8               Integrating Cisco CME with Cisco CallManager

Chapter 9               Cisco IPC Express Automated Attendant Options

Chapter 10               Cisco IPC Express Integrated Voice Mail

Chapter 11              Cisco CME External Voice Mail Options

Chapter 12            Additional External Applications with Cisco CME

Part III                         Administration and Management

Chapter 13               Cisco IPC Express General Administration and Initial System Setup

Chapter 14               Configuring and Managing Cisco IPC Express Systems

Chapter 15               Cisco IPC Express System Configuration Example

Part IV                         Maintenance and Troubleshooting

Chapter 16              Troubleshooting Basic Cisco IPC Express Features

Chapter 17               Troubleshooting Advanced Cisco CME Features

Chapter 18               Troubleshooting Cisco CME Network Integration

Chapter 19              Troubleshooting Cisco UE System Features

Chapter 20              Troubleshooting Cisco UE Automated Attendant

Chapter 21               Troubleshooting Cisco UE Integrated Voice Mail Features

Appendixes

Appendix A           Cisco IPC Express Features, Releases, and Ordering Information

Appendix B            Sample Cisco UE AA Scripts

Appendix C           Cisco Unity Express Database Schema

Glossary

Index                  

Downloadable Sample Chapter

Download - 276 KB -- Chapter 5: Cisco CME Call Processing Features