[junior voip]

hello everybody. Juior voip here with little voip experience/knowledge
excuse me for asking:
there is one thing I can not full figure out and thats the actual technical
difference between SIP and H323 in a voip network. I fully understand
the ins/outs of the H323 version of softswitch + H323 gateways/softphones.
no problem there. Also understand the basics of what SIP is compared to
H323. But when thinking about what a SIP network would look I seem
to be drawing blanks. What i wonder about is

- what exactly makes a voip network SIP?
- What is the hardware/software difference between the two?
- there are sip/h323 dialers out there so its not those. Is it because
of the switch 'being SIP'?
- If the switch is SIP than the gateways/softhpones need to be
SIP (or h323/sip) as well right? Or are there translators out there
for H323->SIP?
- I read somethng about a SIP server being connected to a H323/SIp
compliant SS. What does this SIP server mean within the network?

Realize you are all busy proffessionals running a company, with little
time to edcuated the newbie's every time they have a question. Still
hoping on of you experts will grant me 5 min of his time to explain above
a little. you might be helping many other newbies at the same time!

off course - a good recommendation on a white paper etc is highly welcome!

thanks a lot!!