IP Telephony provides the foundation for meeting today's need for Unified Communications (UC) in the enterprise. The basic premise of UC is to foster instant communication between workers beyond the traditional phone and e-mail and into voice, video, IM, and wireless.

This guide is intended for both IT staff, voice system managers, as well as CIOs. It describes the issues decision makers need to understand as they set out to build a winning unified communication strategy.

Key discussion areas include: 

• Breakdown of critical voice system components
• VoIP technologies and standards
• Underlying network elements
• Business application integration
• Emerging technologies
• Total cost of ownership (TCO) review
• Glossary of terms