In 1999–2000, VoIP (Voice–over–IP) telephony was one of the most successful buzzwords of the telecom bubble era. However, in 2001–2003, VoIP faced a very tough reality check. Now, manufacturers and service providers are drawing on what they have learnt from past experience in order to prepare to participate in the next major challenge faced by the telecommunications industry. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the issues to solve in order to deploy global revenue–generating effective "multimedia" services. Drawing on extensive research and practical deployment experience in VoIP, the authors provide essential advice for those seeking to design and implement a post–bubble VoIP network. Beyond VoIP Protocols: Understanding Voice Technology and Networking Techniques for IP Telephony Introduces the basics of speech coding and voice quality Demonstrates how quality of service may be built into the network and deals with dimensioning aspects, e.g. multipoint communications and how to model call seizures. Explores the potential of multicast to turn an IP backbone into an optimized broadcast medium Includes amply illustrated, state–of–the–art practical advice for formulating a complete deployment strategy A companion volume to "IP Telephony: Deploying VoIP Protocols", this book takes the reader a stage deeper into how to prepare the network and exploit VoIP technology to its full potential.