chap- ter on Convergence of Voice and Data. To Christine Kern for her support and her cheerful countenance. It's been a pleasure to work with her. To Steve Teta for his patient review of the book from a technical perspective. To Gioia Ambrette and the staff of Newcastle Communications in New York City for their help with the chapters on Voice Mail, Interactive Voice Response, Fax Server and Call Ac- counting. Their company specializes in selling and setting up these applications. To Eric Burger of Snowshore and the International Softswitch Consortium. Eric's help with the chapter on Convergence of Voice and Data was invaluable. To Gordon Fowler and Anthony Abbott for their review and suggestions for the chapter on Convergence of Voice and Data. To Don Stigliano and John Walston of Netversant for their time and help on the PBX Chapter. continued The Telecom Handbook xiii THE TELECOM HANDBOOK To Al Festa and Dan Krych of C&C Sales for their help with the chapter on Cable. To Dave Crozier for his help with the chapter on Cable and his creative suggestions. To Cahal Grennan of Pingtone for his contribution to the chap- ter on Convergence of Voice and Data. To Fran Blackburn for her contribution to the chapter on Auto- matic Call Distributors. Intecom makes ACDs for Call Centers. To Pattie Stone for her meticulous desktop publishing and graphic design services and creative suggestions. Pattie's support has been invaluable in getting this 4th edition ready. To the Staff and Associates of DIgby 4 Group, Inc. who keep our company growing and our clients happy - including Diane Ventimiglia, Jean Fitzpatrick, Laura Taylor, Olga Dawidowicz and Kathy Charlton. To the wonderful clients of DIgby 4 Group, Inc. for their confi- dence in us. To my husband, Rich Laino, for his patience and support. To all of my friends in the telecommunications industry each who has helped me in his own unique way. - Jane Laino, New York City, 2002 xiv The Telecom Handbook THE TELECOM HANDBOOK About the Author Jane Laino is president of DIgby 4 Gr