Chapter 1. Touring the History Museum of Telephony

What You Will Learn

After reading this chapter, you should be able to

	Explain the differences between various types of telephone switches.
	Describe the operation of traditional telephony systems.
	Identify the advantages of a Voice over IP (VoIP) network.

Welcome to the world of Voice over IP (VoIP)! Think of it, sending your company's voice traffic (or even your home's voice traffic) over a data network. When you place a call from your office to New York or Los Angeles, your voice travels across your company's network links, not through the telephone company's voice network. As a result, you avoid long-distance charges; however, that's just the tip of the iceberg. This book introduces you to the plethora of benefits VoIP offers.

Prior to getting into the nuts and bolts of VoIP, you need to have a firm understanding of traditional telephony networks. This chapter takes you on a tour through the history of telephony. Traditional telephony components introduced in this chapter are compared and contrasted in later chapters with today's VoIP components, providing you with the distinctions necessary to begin the migration to this exciting new world of telephony.