What you need to know to survive, long term.

Interests between broadcasters and telecom people are blurring. Technical operations and design engineers in one field are increasingly required to deal with practices and techniques in the other. The problem is expectations and terminology differences aren't recognized until it's too late.

Take "Quality of Service." The telecom people specify a percentage of the time that the service is guaranteed to be available. The down time may be very, very small. But, if it occurs during a high-priced commercial in the Super Bowl, it is very, very serious for the broadcaster. Practical IP and Telecom for Broadcast Engineering and Operations teaches the technology and how to structure it and make sure the finances work in your favor.

Learn how to:

* Define communications circuit, equipment, facilities and services used in broadcast engineering and operations.

* Evaluate suppliers as well as their products and services.

* Prepare technical specifications and requests for bids, proposals required in competitive procurement actions.

* Conduct communications operational effectiveness and cost audits.

* Prepare communications cost management strategies and plans.

* Plan and execute capital projects.

* Survive Long-Term

Critical for engineers, technicians, and managers engaged in designing, installing, testing, and maintaining equipment and network services for program content, training material, or audio/video conferencing. Valuable knowledge for planning, design, integration and operation of communications equipment, facilities and services used in broadcast operations, training and conferencing applications.

Fred Huffman is a systems engineer with Athens Olympic Broadcasting, the Host Broadcaster for the 2004 Games. He has more than 35 years experience in technical and management roles in broadcasting and telecommunications fields. This work is largely a reflection of that experience, captured in a way that introduces the reader to technical aspects of IP, ATM and classical telecom, along with business essentials such as contracts, tariffs, project planning, budgeting and long range planning.