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Rating: 
Summary: I Agree...
Review: I purchased this book so that I could position myself for upcoming technologies at my work. I was pleasantly surprised at how "instructor" like the CIM was. I felt like I had a full Cisco Instructor led course by the end. It took around 35 hours to complete the course in total. The simulations are just like telneting into real equipment. 90% of the commands work to a degree but some have been disabled, I think to ease the burden onthe simulator. Which is why I knocked off a star. The labs are well thought out and make you think more as you progress.Overall I felt confident enough to tkae the associated exam, and I passed. Now I am reviewing this package in preparation for the CCIE exams.
Rating: 
Summary: Another "pdf on CD-ROM"
Review: I think, for a "Basic" CIM does much more than that, explaining throughly couple of concepts which helps to understand the fundamentals of Cisco VoIP, even though almost everything is copied or rearranged from CCO. For the price paid though, instead of the old-fashioned cheesy text style with a few glossary popups and some really easy labs (where you have to type only a few commands and you're done), one should expect many animated graphics, maybe some movies (check: Intro and Outro on CD-ROM :) ) and labs for people that will support this technology eventually... At least they recommended having a RealPlayer G2 installed on your computer. Not to mention some "tricky" IE double openings and "Cannot find server" messages. I assume CiscoPress knows that nobody out there is interested in having a 2001 looking CIM, with router simulators built-in, where you can practice any combination of commands and troubleshoot, related to "Basic" VoIP. Don't worry people, you can still buy 2,3 routers with VoIP modules, at least 2 PBXes (second hand are cheaper), connect'em to a LEC CO and play all day long! ....
Rating: 
Summary: Good introduction to Cisco VOIP
Review: If you're looking to learn basic Cisco VOIP (technology and commands) this is an excellent resource. The text part of the course isn't spectacular (you could get the same material off CCO), but the simulated labs were a great way to solidify the material and (in my mind) justified the cost of the course. I should point out though that some parts (particularly Section 3) seem to have been written by someone who's just repeating things s/he's read somewhere else without really understanding it, e.g.: "What the party at the other end of the line hears isn't really the original speech; it's an analogy of the original speech. This is why the signal is called an analog signal." (it's called analog because it's a continuous signal as opposed, say, to a discrete digital signal -- it has nothing to do with "analogy") or "PCM (ITU G.711 standard) uses an 8-bit numeric code based on one of the coding processes called a-law or mu-law. PCM employs a uniform quantization process, meaning that PCM simply translates volume into 8-bit data without regard to the previous sample. Because the interval between each sample is relatively quick (8,000 samples per second, or one sample per 125 microseconds), it is unlikely for an enormous difference in volume to exist from one sample to the next sample." (the first part is wrong - quantizing is not uniform for G.711 and the last part is confused : differences in successive sample values is relative to ADPCM, not PCM) If you're looking for basic Cisco VOIP over IP (no coverage of frame relay or ATM), this is a pretty good resource ... just be on the lookout for some pretty "original" views of voice technology.
Rating:
Summary: I Agree...
Review: This is great for the hands-on stuff. Maybe supplementing it with the Cisco Press Course Book for VoIP/FR/ATM when it becomes available would be a good move. The content of this CD is very good however. This is the 3rd CIM i have used - i realise that some reviewers 'miss the point' about these CD's but i myself have been very happy with all of them. They have got good resale value too. I haven't taken the exam yet, but one of the reviewers has. Overall , very very good.
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