Book excerpt: IP Telephony has revolutionized many aspects of telecommunications and it continues to be deployed at a rapid pace. The benefits of transporting voice over an IP infrastructure include increased flexibility, better scalability, and a significant cost savings over traditional telephony networks. However, during the deployment of these VoIP solutions, other types of traditional telephony communications that can also realize these same benefits are often overlooked or ignored. Fax, Modem, and Text for IP Telephony is a comprehensive resource that confronts the need for information on transporting alternative, non-voice communications over the IP protocol. Beginning with the basic theory and operation of fax, modem, and text telephony, this book then educates you on all of the current transport options that are available. An extensive design guide then provides the pertinent advice and best practices for making the correct planning decisions and choosing the best transport option for your network. Fax, Modem, and Text for IP Telephony also includes meticulous configuration and troubleshooting guides. The configuration guides in this book include a number of sample configurations and tips to manage any fax, modem, or text deployment. The troubleshooting guides present the essential methodologies, debugs, and analysis tools for quickly resolving both the common and complex issues that may be encountered. This book is the perfect companion to other VoIP resources, and it is the only book that empowers you to successfully handle any fax, modem, or text implementation. David Hanes, CCIE® No. 3491, is currently a senior engineer specializing in training, network design assistance, and troubleshooting of fax technologies for the Customer Assurance Engineering (CAE) group at Cisco®. Since joining Cisco in 1997, David has worked as a TAC engineer for the WAN, WAN Switching, and Multiservice Voice teams, a team lead for the Multiservice Voice team, and an escalation engineer covering a variety of voice and fax technologies. David has troubleshot escalated issues in Cisco customer networks worldwide and remains a technical resource for other Cisco employees and customers. Gonzalo Salgueiro CCIE No. 4541, is a senior escalation engineer supporting voice, fax, and modem technologies for the Cisco TAC. Gonzalo has spent more than 11 years troubleshooting complex issues in large-scale VoIP networks as well as providing technical leadership for some of the most critical worldwide voice and fax deployments. Prior to joining the Escalation Team in 1999 Gonzalo had roles as a TAC engineer for both the Access/Dial and Multiservice Voice teams as well as a team lead for the Access/Dial team. Learn basic and advanced operational theory and practical implementation of fax, modem, and text communications Understand how to implement fax, modem, and text communications using protocols such as H.323, SIP, MGCP, and SCCP. Explore the functionality and advantages of T.38 fax relay, passthrough, modem relay, T.37 Store-and-Forward Fax, and text relay for IP network deployments Employ expert-recommended best practices and design solutions for deploying fax, modem, and text in an IP telephony environment Optimize your network with comprehensive fax, modem, and text configuration and design tips for use with IOS and non-IOS gateways Master the latest fax, modem, and text troubleshooting tools and techniques employed by Cisco engineers Category: Cisco Press--IP Communication Covers: Fax, Modem, and Text Telephony Technologies for Integrated IP Networks