AVVID is a loosely applied term used to describe voice, data, and multimedia services that are integrated into a network. While many of the technologies under the AVVID umbrella have been available for years, never before have they been so closely integrated. This should have a familiar ring, much like the story of Microsoft Windows and its capabilities to integrate. Like Microsoft, Cisco s AVVID structure will only grow and become a much tighter focus of future developed technologies. As companies migrate more to AVVID, new vendors will offer additional hardware solutions.

In this chapter we presented and reviewed a number of technologies defined either directly or indirectly as support equipment necessary for an AVVID environment. Putting it all together, an ideal AVVID design deploys routers with voice-enabled capabilities that are, in turn, linked to voice-enabled switches, such as the Catalyst 6000 series, that provide a separate VLAN and power to IP-enabled phones such as the 7940 and 7960. IP phones are logically assigned call functions, extended as services by Cisco s Call Manager. The Active Voice Product completes voice services by providing unified messaging, combining voice-mail and e-mail services in a single location. When legacy equipment exists, gateways are configured so that the existing network can be migrated to a pure IP system as time allows.

Video services are composed of video on demand, streaming television media services, and video conferencing. In extending voice over IP, sessions from an IP-based phone can be linked into video conferencing while preserving other...