Overview

Before going into the overall technologies of this book, now is a good time to review the goal of the book. First, we plan to discuss technologies that are based on the current world of voice and data convergence. This convergence is one that has been sliding along for two decades, yet seems to have caught everyone by surprise. Second, we will be talking about applications and some cost issues throughout the book. Regardless of which discipline you come from, you cannot escape the ultimate strategy management expects: increase productivity yet hold the line on costs. Lose either one of these in the equation and you will be sitting there trying to figure out why management never buys into any of your great ideas. The answer comes to us in the form of packaging. No matter how great your ideas are, if you cannot sell them, you cannot implement them.

So as we proceed through this material, try not to get frustrated with the constant mix of services, technological discussions, and costing issues. From time to time, we may also introduce some extra technical notes that are for the more technically astute but can be ignored by the novice trying to progress through the industry. As you read about a topic, do so with a focus on systems, rather than individual technologies. We have tried to make these somewhat stand-alone chapters, yet we have also tied them together in bundles of three or four chapters to formulate a final...