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Here's a link to a voice over IP article that explains all of the technologies in layman's terms http://www.siemon.com/us/white_papers/
You can also get the "Cabling for the Future" Magazine which contains that article and provides excellent updates on the standards. Other companies such as Cisco, 3com have some whitepapers, but rely on a basic understanding of the technology first. I wrote the whitepaper on VoIP, so I can assure you it is thorough, but not overly technical. It also contains references to all of the sites that have regulatory information and/or control the standards surrounding VoIP and IP Telephony. The difference between the two being that VoIP is obviously voice, and IP Telephony includes text messaging, fax services, etc. as well as voice. It will be a good basis.
There is also a VoIP primer and other articles available on this Web site. There is also a site www.erlang.org which has a neat erlang calculator. There are also some previous responses in this ask the expert column that cover differences between DEC and SIP and some of the other technologies. Feel free to respond with any questions that you have and I will be glad to help.
You may also want to pop over to our certification and training expert, Ed Tittel, and ask him for some resources on VoIP training.
This was first published in November 2003