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Computer Telephony Encyclopedia
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Author: Richard Grigonis
List Price: $39.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 1578200458
Publisher: CMP Books (August, 2000)
Edition: Paperback
Sales Rank: 118,766
Average Customer Rating: 4.12 out of 5
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Customer ReviewsRating: 2 out of 5
Not for the Uninitiated
I was looking for a good introduction to the field of Computer Telephony and bought this book. Unfortunatly, I found it to be more confusing than helpful. Almost every section reads like a puzzle that you have to assemble. An example in the "Cable Telephony" section:"The NCS profile of MGCP, which is known as the Network-based Call Signaling Protocol, NCS 1.x, the NCS profile, or simply NCS, has been modified from the CableLabs / PacketCable MGCP 0.1 draft in several ways - for example, the NCS protocol contains some extensions and modifications to MGCP, and the NCS protocol contains some minor simplifications from MGCP. Still, although MGCP is not NCS, and NCS is not MGCP, the names MGCP and NCS are generally used interchangeably, and MGCP in terms of cable telephony is taken to mean the NCS profile of MCGP". I understand that to take this paragraph out of its context is unfair and makes it look even more confusing but my point is that if you are not initiated and already comfortable with several concepts in the field of Computer Telephony, I think you will not really benefit from this book. Whereas if you have been working in the field for many years, you might appreciate this book as a good reference but then, I do agree with a previous reviewer that wrote: "(the book) is poorly organized for researching information, e.g., its index is essentially a word occurance listing".
Rating: 4 out of 5
Nice companion to Newton's Telecom Dictionary.
I suspect that it may have been intended, based on the title; the _Computer Telephony Encyclopedia_ is a great companion to _Newton's Telecom Dictionary_. Whereas the dictionary has a paragraph or two on thousands of topics, the encyclopedia, as expected, has on average of a few pages on a few hundred topics -- literally ranging from "A & B (Robbed) Bit Signaling" and "A/D Converter" to "Zulu Time" and "Zzzzzzz". While I feel that Newton's is a better and more useful book (a must-own for everyone in the industry), I think this is an excellent second book to buy if you've ever wanted more detail than Newton's provides.
Rating: 5 out of 5
The Best CT Book I've Found So Far
I'm in the Telecom field and bought The Computer Telephony Encyclopedia to help me in my daily attempts to understand the many new technologies that are foisted upon me every day. I found the book to be the best concentration of information in this area. Aside from a few entries (such as Quality of Service and T1) it is not an overly technical tome and is accessible by the average telecom manager, sales person or executive. According to the acknowledgements, the author has pulled in data from various sources such as the full range of CMP magazines and he also commissioned some industry authors to contribute new material. This plus 80 some pages of product tables make the CT Encyclopedia a volume that I must keep close at hand.
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