Avaya to Cisco - questions from a job-changer

[dudecrush]

All,

I'll be changing jobs. My current employer uses Avaya, but my new employer is a Cisco shop. Several years ago, I used to administer Cisco and Avaya at previous employer, but the Cisco skills have since atrophied and I would like to get back up to speed. I'm looking for some literature/videos/documentation that will help make the transition somewhat easier. Specifically, I'm looking for literature/videos surrounding:
a) Avaya vs. Cisco Terminology differences (ie. An Avaya VDN is called a Trigger in Cisco)
b) Avaya vs. Cisco Conceptual differences (how a call moves through the system)
c) Cisco How-To's on creating a phone, setting up voicemail, administering Jabber and UCCX.

I've watched some you-tube videos on Cisco calling search spaces and partitions, but I was hoping someone out there has done this and knows of other references.

Thanks much!

FYI: I'm going to post this same message on the Cisco pages

 

[kyle555]

Are you kidding? I'm not interested in changing jobs and would love this kind of resource. Maybe it's because Avaya is what I learned first and best that I find Cisco to be very convoluted. Maybe its because I've had a real hard time getting someone to explain to me in simple terms how a phone boots and gets all these config and xml files to tell it how to operate, but I really don't understand the PBX 101 of CUCM and would really like to.

If there were a book of how to be a basic PBX admin and do a few dozen tasks across several platforms, I'd pay college-level bookstore prices for it!

 

[HBcity]

Likewise here! I doubt there isn't much documentation of that nature that exist

 

[dudecrush]

Yup -I agree with the both of you - Too bad there is no magic documentation. I also agree with you, kyle555, that Cisco administration is convoluted - Byzantine is how I would phrase it. What Avaya does in one page and 4 tabs takes Cisco multiple separate pages with additional links.

There isn't much to be had out there. Basically, I've been thinking of questions, then going out to the internet and trying to answer the question. I did find a great set of You Tube videos by 4Geeks_Sake which are in plain English and easy to understand. The trainer knows his stuf. He's able to break it down to nearly layman's level understanding. Good resource, but they don't cover everything you could possibly need to know. I've also begun downloading the Cisco Manuals, and reading the references to try and find the answers to my questions.

 

[wpetilli]

I am also all AVAYA, but got my CCNA and then began to study for CCNA Voice and while that wasn't CUCM specific I found it to be a very difficult study. One that became very unenjoyable.

 

[prflash]

I have worked ATT/LUCENT/AVAYA since 1989. Since that time my knowledge of the different Avaya systems has helped me also administer Nortel/ROLM/PANASONIC/NEC/3COM and other smaller systems with ease. But as far as trying to figure out the CISCO its not fun. I Run from Cisco even though I know that they are taking a much larger market share of the business. But they will never have a Call Center Package that competes with Avaya and even if they did it will cost an arm and a leg.

TelecomJuan