I've worked for both Telecom and Data vendors, and every one I ever work with always seem to have problems understanding "the other side". VoIP is such a broad term with so many different signalling protocols, it is hard to really know what the heck someone means when they say VoIP.
Learn your basics of the PSTN network, eventually there will be certainly be a call that needs to go out a PSTN. First class I took when VoIP was "new" and was a SS7 course, back then we were signalling with IPDC but one of the greatest classes ever to fully understand what Telephony signalling is all about.
You'll have an edge over strictly Data guys because you will know the PSTN, debug it and point to what the interop issue with the Switch is. When call routing fails, you can trace back to why it took the wrong path. Data guys can only look back to the gatekeeper and IP signalling.
Don't get me wrong, I started as a data guy and realized telco was my weakness. Having an understanding of a Telco network will give you the better understanding of both sides of the network.
Although I do work for a hardware vendor, I'm not vendor centric. A lot of the insterop issues does require me to configure Metaswitches, Sonus, 5ES, DMS, etc.. but having the SS7 training I get a fairly good start without ever being tied to a vendor. If something isn't working, I breakout a test set and look at "Signalling" the magic that makes it all work.
Slashdot Mirror
I've worked for both Telecom and Data vendors, and every one I ever work with always seem to have problems understanding "the other side". VoIP is such a broad term with so many different signalling protocols, it is hard to really know what the heck someone means when they say VoIP. Learn your basics of the PSTN network, eventually there will be certainly be a call that needs to go out a PSTN. First class I took when VoIP was "new" and was a SS7 course, back then we were signalling with IPDC but one of the greatest classes ever to fully understand what Telephony signalling is all about. You'll have an edge over strictly Data guys because you will know the PSTN, debug it and point to what the interop issue with the Switch is. When call routing fails, you can trace back to why it took the wrong path. Data guys can only look back to the gatekeeper and IP signalling. Don't get me wrong, I started as a data guy and realized telco was my weakness. Having an understanding of a Telco network will give you the better understanding of both sides of the network. Although I do work for a hardware vendor, I'm not vendor centric. A lot of the insterop issues does require me to configure Metaswitches, Sonus, 5ES, DMS, etc.. but having the SS7 training I get a fairly good start without ever being tied to a vendor. If something isn't working, I breakout a test set and look at "Signalling" the magic that makes it all work.