Cisco voice-enabled routers are more than simply IP-enabled devices that provide encapsulation and compression. In fact, these routers provide host capabilities to link both analog and digital telecommunication technologies together. Over the past several years, Cisco has made the commitment to expand its voice-enabled products onto many additional platforms. In the tradition of Cisco, as newer products become available, they will most likely follow the base design with improvements, such as better compression, variable samplings, emulation for incompatible phone systems, and so forth. The basics laid out in this section will remain a constant, though.

Cisco offers highly flexible solutions for which a modular router can support any number of interface types, software functionality, and protocols. This flexibility has made Cisco the world leader in network telecommunications technologies, but this market position has come at the price of consumer confusion. To address this issue, Cisco offers hardware support for consumers, resellers, and partners at 800-553-NETS as well as through the Internet.

Cisco s Web site offers a configuration tool to assist in selecting compatible router components and software. Cisco s configuration tool can be located at its Web site at WWW.CISCO.COM; click on Order Information and assistance, then select Configuration tool from the menu. The direct link to this Web page currently is www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/front.x/newConfig/config_root.pl.

Before we can dive into Cisco s current voice-capable routers, let s first review the technologies behind the options so that as we examine each product, each add-on is fully understood.