The Open Source Zone

This is a great book for those who want to know what all the VOIP fuss is about. You may not pass any exams with this thin quick read but you can ace an interview! It lays all of the basics out for anyone to easily pick it up and understand. You can walk away with a pretty good understanding of everything listed in the title.

I did not like this book, because it was too short and too light weight. It feels like an ISP manager's overview, and I was looking for detailed bits and bytes, the whys and the configs. If you want detailed discussion of these topics, find another book. If you want an overview of the listed topics, Voice-Enabling may work for you, but it is relatively expensive. <p>I admit, it probably suffered in comparison, because I got "Troubleshooting Cisco IP Telephony" at the same time, and that book is packed to the gills with detailed info. However, if I had scanned Voice-Enabling before I picked it up I would never had got it.

Author has painstakingly captured the details essential to an understanding of VoIP. I found it useful for its introduction to the technology. It is a good assist for engineers and techs who are just getting involved. The information on security is valuable. It is definitely an appropriate addition to my library, and I heartily recommend it.

This has been a difficult review for me to write. I've tried to find something positive to say about this book but the best I can come up with is as follows:<p>I'm not sure who or what this book is aimed at. It is not an exam preparation book. It does not provide much in the way of detailed configuration examples. It is concise to the point that I'm not sure that it fully explains any of the covered topics (a full 178 pages!). The most useful part of it was the introduction to SIP, and only I suspect because I hadn't managed to find a similar introduction on CCO. I think there is no doubt that the author knows his stuff and is enthusiastic in presenting it. However, at some point a sub-editor should have pointed out that it needs a lot of work to make it readable to anyone other than the most experienced engineer. For example, the over-reliance of acronyms makes some sections very difficult to follow (I counted 35 on a single page - yes I will admit that counting acronyms makes me a sad person). <p>I bought it because it seemed to cover a sizeable chunk of the CCIE voice written exam. In hindsight, it doesn't, but to be fair to the author, I don't think that that was ever his intention.

Though it is mentioned on the back cover description, it should be made clear in the title that this book is an overview only, and it specifically addresses the Service Provider market. It is a good, quick read if you are already familiar with VoIP. If you are not, it may be too technical with too little explanation. I'm surprised this book has the same list price as other Cisco Press titles that offer much more content.