Certification - June 2006 - (Page 30)

CM0606.qxd 5/5/06 6:27 PM Page 30 JOB ROLES IP Telephony Engineers: The Innovators of Communications Technologies CARI MCLEAN With enterprises spreading their reach globally, Manager Ray Garra, IP telepho- ny engineers generally focus on companies increasingly seek to improve the way one of three areas within the they communicate whether it's by telephone, e-mail vast umbrella of IP telephony job roles: architecture and proto- or fax. Currently, Internet protocol IP telephony cols, technologies and applica- engineers are converging these technologies. tions, or services and products. These professionals are responsible for designing, To work in this field, a profes- sional has to have a foundational implementing and supporting converged network understanding of VoIP, what solutions. With many organizations moving away those technologies are, from from traditional telephone service and migrating theory, to even T1 a commonly used digital transmission service toward IP telephony implementation and voice over that consists of 24 separate IP VoIP adoption, the work of today's IP telephony channels , to basic routing and switching and IP addressing, engineers will influence the continued endorsement Garra explained. So the founda- of these technologies. tion of all the voice tracks lays the foundation for a professional to go into unified communica- There is a growing acceptance of technologies that tion, which is really an extension of the core network. run on IP telephony and VoIP networks more so than According to Cisco Systems Director of Certifications probably two or three years ago. If you look at the Don Field, most IP telephony engineers perform many acceptance of the population at-large trusting IP different tasks. An IP telephony engineer can be telephony and VoIP opposed to trusting land lines, involved in the planning, designing, implementation, there is a critical-mass acceptance for these technolo- operation maintenance, configuration or troubleshoot- gies, said Terry Barham, program manager, enterprise ing of Cisco products or solutions for technologies certification, Nortel Networks. This is where the tech- applied in a customer setting, like an office, school or nology is moving. This is where people are building government agency. An IP telephony engineer could their applications. It's all riding on IP telephony and in also be in a support role. For example, we have a tech- our view, this certainly causes an expectation that nical-assistance center that is staffed with experts in things will be IP-enabled moving forward. all the different areas in which Cisco offers products, services and solutions, Field explained. Also, some- Roles and Responsibilities On the Job one who is skilled in IP telephony may not think of Whether an IP telephony professional specializes in themselves as an IP telephony engineer because his or designing, implementing, supporting or consulting her job responsibilities may span across data, security, converged network solutions, today's IP telephony wireless access or VoIP. engineers should have foundational knowledge in all At Mitel Networks Corp., a developer and provider of four of these areas. However, according to Cisco communications products, Manager of the SIP Systems Inc. Learning and Development Senior 30 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE June 2006 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Certification - June 2006

Editors Letter
Table of Contents
Data Stream
Consultants Corner
Tech Careers
Virtual Village
Certification Evolution: Job-Role Certifications for Your Future
Inside Certification
Must-Have Non-Technical Skills for IT Pros
IP Telephony Engineers
Specialty Certification
Interface
Ad Index
Endtag

Certification - June 2006

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