Building a Cisco IPC Express Network

This chapter covers the following topics:

• IP Telephony network deployment models
• Cisco IP Telephony system trade-offs
• Cisco IP Communications (IPC) Express deployment models, including the standalone office, the multisite network, and the service provider managed services models

Chapter 1, "Introducing Cisco IPC Express," provided an overview of why Cisco IP Communications (IPC) Express might be an excellent voice and data communications system for your business and how its features may apply to your needs. It also gave brief information about the router platforms, licenses, and components that comprise Cisco IPC Express. This chapter covers what your network might look like or, as it is more formally called, what deployment models you may consider when building a network that contains one or more sites with Cisco IPC Express.

If you own a small business that operates from a single site, your network is equally simple, so only a small portion of the information here applies to you. On the other hand, perhaps yours is a larger business with multiple sites, or you own (or work for) a firm that has an enterprise backbone network and you are considering Cisco IPC Express for some or all of the branch sites. If so, you will find the network deployment information in this chapter handy when connecting Cisco IPC Express to your existing network. Last, if you are a service provider (SP) considering Cisco IPC Express as a hosted or customer premises equipment (CPE) offering to your customers, your network has even more considerations.

IP Telephony Network Deployment Overview