In October, 1998, Cisco took a step forward in its entry into IP Telephony with the acquisition of Selsius Systems, a pioneer and innovator of next generation network PBX systems for high-quality telephony over IP networks. This began the revolution of converged data, voice and video networks rendering separate voice and data networks a thing of the past. Cisco is one of the front runners in changing the way enterprises and service providers deliver converging traditional voice, data, and video applications.

The overall IP communication industry has gained significant momentum. The original Selsius Systems product family acquired by Cisco has expanded and evolved at tremendous speed. Over four million IP phones and over three million Unity seats have been deployed.

In early 1999, I was asked to build a small team of network consulting engineers in order to help Cisco customers and partners with the planning, designing, implementation, operation and optimization (PDIOO) of IP communication networks by providing them with templates, tools and best practices. Salman Asadullah and Ramesh Kaza were among the first few senior engineers who I asked to help with this task. We began working with our customers and during this process we defined the PDIOO processes for core steps that are required for deploying IP communication solutions. These processes and best practices are being shared in this book using hypothetical customer scenarios in the form of a case study. As with any emerging technology, these processes and best practices change over the time, but the approach applied remain the same. Today, our team supports some of largest Cisco IP communication deployments, some with over with 10,000 IP phones. The team, which started with three network consulting engineers, has grown to over 30 engineers in the course of four years.

One day, Salman and Ramesh walked into my office and presented the idea of writing a book based on the experience we acquired on this roller coaster ride. With the strong technical background and experience they gained by working with the largest IP communications networks, it was a valuable idea.

While reviewing their final draft of the book I was impressed to see how beautifully they have made an excellent guide on how to approach the IP communication project using PDIOO life cycle for small-to-medium size deployment. I am confident that the reader will find this book highly valuable and practical because it can be used as a reference guide to create a framework for your IP communication convergence projects.

Regards, Himanshu Desai Senior Manager, Advanced Services IP Communications Services Team