From the perspective of telecommunications professionals, examines the technology relating to the growing transition of network providers from traditional circuit-switched networks to IP-based, packet- switched networks. Describes the Internet's architecture, protocols, and traffic characteristics; and reviews the key issues in transforming the Internet from its data-only roots to a multi-service network that can handle voice, video, and multimedia with comparable quality and reliability. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.