Flavio E. Goncalves was born in 1966 in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Having always had a strong interest in computers, he got his first personal computer in 1983 and since then it has been almost an addiction. He received his degree in Engineering in 1989 with focus in computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing.

He is also CEO of V.Office Networks in Brazil, a consulting company dedicated to the areas of Networks, Security, Telecom, and Operating Systems and a training center since its foundation in 1996. Since 1993, he has participated in a series of certification programs having being certificated as Novell MCNE/MCNI, Microsoft MCSE/MCT, Cisco CCSP/CCNP/CCDP, Asterisk dCAP, and some others.

He started writing about open-source software because he thinks the way certification programs were organized in the past was very good to help learners. Some books today are written by strictly technical people, who, sometimes, do not have a clear idea on how people learn. He tried to use his 15-year experience as instructor to help people learn open-source telephony software. His experience with networks, protocol analyzers, and IP telephony, combined with his teaching skills, gave him an edge to write this book. This is the second book he has written; the first one was The Configuration Guide for Asterisk PBX.

As the CEO of V.Office, Flavio E. Goncalves balances his time between family, work, and fun. He is the father of two children and lives in Florianopolis, Brazil, in his opinion one of the most beautiful places in the world. He dedicates his free time to water sports such as surfing and sailing.

You can contact him at <[email protected]>, or visit his website www.asteriskguide.com.