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.