Data Communications Books

This is such a great book, I've read it and kept referring back for more info. Material covered here would help you no matter discipline you are from: Weather you've just completed your degree and want to get your point across to a hiring manager; or a business person who'd want to be more concise and to the point. Look no further.

I first encountered this book in the late '80s. Since then, I've use the techniques from the book to write technical papers and documentation, employee reviews, published articles and winning proposals for million-dollar government contracts. I even used it to write testimony for a Congressional hearing.

The process outlined in this book is NOT a fad, and not "buzzword compliant", it's a proven, well-defined process that allows almost anyone to write like the best writers. These techniques will have you writing naturally, with clarity and focus.

These same techniques will also provide a big help in organizing your thoughts, and creating careful and insightful analysis.

For those who have trouble or anxiety about writing, having a well-defined process solves most of the problems with procrastination or "not knowing what to write, or how". This book provides that process. It simplifies the mechanics of "how" to write, so that you can focus on "what" to write, and getting your message across to the audience.

I'm glad this book is out in a new edition. I'll be buying copies for most of my technical staff, and suggesting it to my graduate students.

This book provided me with all the useful business-writing tips and examples needed to prepare effective and succinct business documents. I constantly refer back to it when preparing various writing projects.

I would recommend this to anyone who has to write in the business world and needs examples on how to write documents that are concise with appropriate details.

This book really cuts to the chase. It includes what you need to know for all types of business documents, and doesn't bother with things you really don't need to know to get the job done. This is perfect for those of us who are already too busy. It's helped me make my business correspondence clear, succinct, and to the point. If your work requires any writing at all, you should have this book.

I'm buying a second copy of this book - the first one was borrowed and not returned. I often re-read parts of this book.

"Write to the Top" has made a real difference in the amount of positive feedback I have received at performance review time!

A new publishing medium comes around only once every five centuries or so, and it's no wonder people are confused by the Internet. Gary Gach investigates the new world of publishing on the Net and provides great literary finds and useful information for established writers, beginners, and all lovers of words

Writers.net ups the ante in printed guides to the Net. Neophyte writers in cyberspace will find it as valuable as magellan found his compass. Experienced voyagers can use it to find whole continents they never knew existed

Finally, all the information in one easily-accessible place! Gach has delivered an invaluable resource for writers, whether you're a Net newbie or an e-zine publisher. Any writer considering publishing on-line needs to read this.

Writers.net is probably the most "reader-friendly" of all the specialized Internet guides on the market; each of the nineteen chapters of Writers.net is devoted to a particular genre of writing. Writers of mysteries, romances, science fiction, screenplays, and other styles need not burrow through endless pages to get to the sections that interest them most--each chapter is well-structured and organized to give the writer the resources s/he needs before logging onto the Internet and searching blindly for a paying e-publication or research database.

Gach catalogs URLs by the gigabyte, offering links to poetry and fiction mega-link lists, authors' and agents' homepages, research resources, and more. Most URLs listed are followed by a brief description of the site, while some chapters have the look of a printed "bookmark" file from a writer's web browser.

All writers will especially want to study the book's final chapter, which is devoted to Internet censorship and copyright issues, a sticky subject for writers on and off the computer. URLs and descriptions of the more affluent writers' unions and leagues are profiled here, as is information essential to any writer confused about her/his rights.

As with any printed directory of Websites, there is no guarantee that every URL listed in Gach's book will still be valid once you bring Writers.net home from the bookstore (this book is three years old, mind you). To combat the ever-changing climate of the Internet, Gach maintains a Webpage of book updates on his personal homepage, where one may find additions, URL changes, and even a sample chapter from the book.

Gary Gach has written the essential guide for using the World Wide Web to further a writing career. Because anyone can publish on the Web, writers can use the Internet to promote and publish their work as well as for research. Gach's book tells how to use your computer connections to get published online or in print in any of several genres, and there are dozen of ideas that will enrich a writers soul, mind, and pocketbook. It is an essential tool for computer-literate writers. --Mason West

I have a new three level house and wanted to connect all the family computers onto one network. Drilling holes in the floors and running wires all over the place is definitely not my thing, so I started to look around for another solution. After learing about wireless networking (wi-fi), I can't imagine why anyone would use anything else.

This wi-fi book answered all my questions. Even though I was nervous about opening up a computer and putting a wi-fi card in, this book took me through it with steps and pictures. I've looked at the other wi-fi books at the bookstore, but this one definitely stuck out. Lots of good pictures and directions.

I read this book knowing little about wireless networking, but over the course of the book I learned not only about how to set up my PC and my home for Wi-Fi, but also something about the technical details of Wi-Fi and where it will be going in the future. Although I knew enough to know that I wanted Wi-Fi in my home, reading this book definitely helped me choose the right products and learn to make the most of them. Thanks Harold -- without this book I'd still be working within a twelve-foot radius of my cable modem!

It was with a little trepidation that I decided it was time to go Wi-Fi. Being a Harold Davis fan for some time, I picked up a copy of his book. Good decision! To start with he helped me decide whether to get a wirelss card for my old faithful laptop, or to get a new one. I went for a new machine (SONY VAIO TR3A). Setting it up was easy. With his book's step-by-step instructions, it was almost as though I had the author at my side. Highly recommended.

If you want to find hotspots, connect to hotspots, or set up your own wireless network, all using Wi-Fi technology, this is the best book for you. Everything in this book is very simple, but you find information here you will not find elsewhere. So this book is useful and also lots of fun. I highly suggest.

This is an excellent book on ad hoc wireless networks. The first four chapters of the book gives the reader a good solid introduction to wireless LANs and cellular networks. Chapter 5 is a very good introduction to ad hoc wireless networks. It clearly explains and motivates the reader about ad hoc networks. The chapter on MAC layer protocols is well explained with different categories of MAC protocols neatly ordered. The best part of the book is the chapters on routing protocols (unicasting and multicasting). The chapters are so well organized such that they introduce the reader to different categories of routing protocols in ad hoc networks and briefly, but clearly explains the functioning of each protocol and also compares the advantages and disadvantages. The chapter on transport layer is also very good. The weakest chapter in the book is the chapter on secure routing. Though the authors explain some secure routing protocols, it would have been better if the authors had categorically explained them similar to the other chapters. Overall, it is an excellent book for novice as well as for a hard core researcher in mobile ad hoc networks.

This book gives you an introduction to wireless networks and then goes into ad-hoc wireless networks. It defines the different problems you have with ad-hoc networks and proceeds to show you how to address those problems. Multiple protocols are shown at an introductory level but enough for you to know what's out there and do more in depth research later on. The writing in this book is very easy to understand.

An excellent book - unfortunately it suffers from poor print quality, but it is still worth the money.

I needed a thorough introduction to Ad-Hoc Networks, and I discovered this great book. It is very well written and interesting to read. Moreover it covers fully the subject with great detail. I really enjoyed reading it.

I would suggest this book to those who would like to enjoy a telecom book and be welcomed to the Ad Hoc technology. The introduction can fit even those that are not aware of WLan technology or wired protocols.

ASN.1 Communication Between Heterogeneous Systems is a book written for novices and experienced ASN.1 users alike. Inside, you'll find all the introduction you need to begin mastering ASN.1, followed by a detailed User's Guide and Reference Manual. Organized in order of increasing difficulty, this section teaches you ASN.1 syntax and semantics and the techniques you need to know to use the notation-whether to specify a new protocol or to apply an existing ASN.1 protocol in a new application. More experienced users can move directly to complete coverage of ASN.1 encoding rules and transfer syntaxes. Additional advanced material focuses on questions/issues that commonly arise when implementing ASN.1 applications, ranging from automatic treatments of specifications to editing tools.

Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, October 2000

All I wanted to know about ASN.1 was there, especially BER encoding. In my view this book is a bit superior to ASN.1 Complete from Larmouth but having both was great. A bit more details on DER encoding would have been even better.

ASN.1 education of the reader is divided into 4 parts in this book, making it a wonderful tool not only for beginners but also for those who have an advanced understanding for ASN.1 and encoding rules and transfer syntaxes. I found the book easy to read and the many quotes scattered throughout the book were quite appropriate and added a distinct sense of humor. The numerous Figures and Tables throughout the book make a difficult subject much easier to understand. Anyone who needs or wants to know more about ASN.1 should read this book.

Olivier Dubuisson's book is cleverly arranged, so that those who don't need a lot of technical information can get an understanding of ASN.1, and those who want to know all about ASN.1 can go through the entire book. The book progresses from beginner to advanced in a logical manner and is easy to follow.

I read it in May (in pdf format) and found it easy to understand as a newcomer to ASN.1. I have since re-read it, working my way up from ASN.1 cluelessness, and have found this book an invaluable help at each step of ASN.1 education.

Mr. Dubuisson's writing style turns what could be a very dry and boring subject into something with a bit of humor and very reader-friendly. Five stars to ASN.1 Communication between Heterogeneous Systems by Olivier Dubuisson!

It goes into the basics of bandwidth calculation, leading up to the technologies used to support the different kind of services.

If one were to look for a good read, this book is a good start for a newbie.

This book could be used as a pre-cursor to an indepth research into new technologies.

ADSL, ATM, ISDN is mentioned in the book.

Lastly, this book is not drab and has some humour in it.

Before I started reading this book I had some idea about ATM. Author explains from scratch giving good background about basic communication systems and then starts with why ATM? ,ATM protocol ,reference model and AALx. Finally covering the current trend in home computing . In generally this book is good start for the people who knows IP and whats to know about ATM and this is a good self study book.

I am an Telco engineer implementing adsl and cable modem networks for broadband access service in China. The book came just in time for me because my company is in the stage of building an ATM network providing service like Internet surfing and experimental vod etc via adsl and cable modem. And this book has given us quite clear an infrastructure for the practice.

I am a teacher and consultant to the telecom industry. I bought the book to sharpen my skill set and increase literacy. I was most impressed with Mr. Kwok's ability to take a highly technical subject and break it down understandably. The end result is that both the "techno-literati" and the "average Joe" are well-served. Mr. Kwok apparently is one of us "techies" who also paid attention in writing class. Kudos for an excellent reference work.

Don Gilbert M.S. DG Consulting

I have read 4 BT books and this is the only one that is accurate an easy read and comprehensive

Despite that the Bluetooth specs and many Bluetooth devices are available, there is relatively little publicly accessible information regarding the Bluetooth protocol. The specs are too confusing for the average reader and the devices themselves provide no insight into how they do what they do. About the best resource I could find was the PaloWireless website.

Then I come across this book. Of all the Bluetooth books I've attempted to make sense of, this one takes the cake. I have an electrical engineering background, so some of the terminology was already familiar, but even non-engineering types should be able to follow it without much difficulty. Dr. Morrow takes a "bottom-up" approach to Bluetooth, starting from the basics of wireless, including power loss, interference, etc. and builds upon each previous section to give a remarkably complete picture of the how, what, and why's of Bluetooth operation.

He uses practical examples supported by simple, comprehensible figures to get his point across. He also is keenly aware of the underlying complexities with Bluetooth and wireless transmission, yet he manages to carry the reader along a path that reveals the fundamental underpinnings without getting bogged down in the math.

Mix in with that a clear writing style, well-organized chapters, and a hint of "suspense" regarding questions that formed in my mind as a I read. The result: an exceptional book that is both enjoyable to read and intellectually stimulating. For anyone interested in an introduction to wireless technology in general, particularly Bluetooth, this book gets my highest recommendation.

I have read 4 BT books and this is the only one that is accurate an easy read and comprehensive.

I have attended onne of Bob Morrow's courses and found him to be one of the best instructor's I have had. He explains everything very clearly. His book lived up to my expectations as it is also clear and well presented. If you are looking for a book on Bluetooth, go no further.

It seems like technologies start off very small, mill around for a while, and then explode. I remember attending a communications conference ten years or so ago and first learning about the move of broadband to the individual home. There were all kinds of things being talked about from cable modems to DSL. Then I went home and tried to get one. The people at the cable company and the phone company had no idea what I was talking about.

Now, as I sit in my home in a small town in very Nevada, I have at least five different choices of providers of broadband services. And the penetration seems to be growing so fast the reporting organizations can't keep track. This book reports that about 25% of U.S. homes have broadband. One web site says that the penetration jumped 1.36% last month alone to reach 58.6%. At any case it is exploding.

This book is a collection of articles put together by two professors at Harvard Business School. The articles cover almost every aspect of broadband services from what's happening technically, to the social aspects of broadband everywhere, to specifics on things like the next 'killer apps,' malicious threats, legal structure, and more. It reflects the current thinking on what's going to happen.

The Broadband Explosion is an anthology of essays written by a variety of authors contemplating far-reaching questions about what repercussions the rise in broadband connection will have on modern society and business. From evaluating how Wi-Fi and Voice Over IP technologies will play out, to speculating on what will be the next- generation "killer apps", to forecasting how the structure of the industry will shift, questioning whether governments should invest in a broadband infrastructure, and evaluating possible new security threats, The Broadband Explosion is a haven for deep thought, budding ideas, and dire warnings. A handful of diagrams illustrate this forward-looking compendium recommended for business and government leaders striving to plan for an increasingly connected future.

The Broadband Explosion is an anthology of essays written by a variety of authors contemplating far-reaching questions about what repercussions the rise in broadband connection will have on modern society and business. From evaluating how Wi-Fi and Voice Over IP technologies will play out, to speculating on what will be the next- generation "killer apps", to forecasting how the structure of the industry will shift, questioning whether governments should invest in a broadband infrastructure, and evaluating possible new security threats, The Broadband Explosion is a haven for deep thought, budding ideas, and dire warnings. A handful of diagrams illustrate this forward-looking compendium recommended for business and government leaders striving to plan for an increasingly connected future.

Most of us techno-geeks live and breathe in the world of broadband, and it's become an invisible "given" in our lives. But often it's good to step back and look at the broader picture of the industry... This book does just that: The Broadband Explosion - Leading Thinkers on the Promise of a Truly Interactive World edited by Robert D. Austin and Stephen P. Bradley.

Contents:
The Promise of Broadband: The Broadband Explosion; Broadband and Collaboration; Broadband Deployment - From Vision to Reality; Valuation Bubbles and Broadband Deployment
Creating Value in a Broadband World: Disruption, Disintegration, and the Impact of New Telecommunications Technologies; Internet2 - The Promise of Truly Advanced Broadband; Broadband and Hyperdifferentiation - Creating Value by Being Really Different; eChoupal - Revolutionizing Supply Chains in Rural India
Capturing the Value of Wireless Broadband: i-mode - Value Chain Strategy in the Wireless Ecosystem; Wi-Fi - Complement or Substitute for 3G?; Wireless Local Area Networks - Why Integration Is Inevitable; Widespread Adoption of Wireless Enterprise Solutions
Policy and the Broadband Future: The Inevitability of Broadband; Protecting Telecommunications Infrastructure from Malicious Threats; Open Spectrum - The Great Wireless Hope; The Balkanization of the Broadband Internet

Explosion is a series of essays from people who make their living thinking about and working with internet and broadband technology. While not a "hands-on" type book that explains how to do something, it's valuable in that it allows you to take a step back and ponder the opportunities and issues surrounding high-speed, ubiquitous access to the internet. For instance, Balkanization examines how the Internet is impacted by nationalistic attempts to control and filter content that by design flows without restraint. Protecting is important for understanding just how precarious our network infrastructure is, and how the interweaving of multiple infrastructures can cause a minor incident to have truly global impact. But it's not all gloom and doom. eChoupal is an excellent case study of how free access to information eliminated an inefficient and often corrupt middle layer between producer and market, and allowed family farmers to make decisions based on global market conditions. Very interesting stuff...

The book does suffer from the same thing that many compilations exhibit... differing levels of writing and communication skills. Granted, these are all highly educated people who know their areas. But some chapters are focused on practical application of the technology, while other chapters seem to go off on graphs and charts measuring mathematical formulas for buying decisions. And sometimes the content seems only marginally related to broadband technology as they build up to their premise. But even with that, the gems are well worth the occasional rocks that seemed to crop up.

If you're ready to ponder the question of "so where does this all lead?", you'll find plenty of material here to direct your musings...

It was hard to choose how many stars this library worths. It includes 3 completly different books. The Caslow book is absolutly perfect. It's a very good tutorial, probably the best I know. I passed real written test and even I couldn't find answers to some questions from the test in this book, if you want to read just one book and get the maximum information - that's it! You might be not able to answer all questions, but I believe it gives you enough information to pass.

But two other books are completly different. First of all, they are not about cisco. It's just a general theory, a lot of packet structure diagrams and protocol description. Language sometimes is very dull and dry. Many topics, especially in the ATM book are beyond the scope of CCIE exam. Routing book contains a lot of interesting information about routing history, current problems and possible ways of future improvements. Probably, these books are interested to some readers, but it's not the best choice for CCIE preparation.

I put 4 stars just because Caslow book is so good that it makes whole library useful too. But I'd strongly recommend to buy this one book only and spend the rest of money to some other tutorials.

Prentice Hall is fast becoming a name in the IT publishing world for producing material and books that will help everyone obtain just about any certification and the CCIE Resource Library 2001 edition is one set of books that should make passing the exam easier.

The three-book set is comprised of material starting with Book 1 - Routing in the Internet. Over 370 pages covering topics like the Internet and the architecture of the Internet. Also IP v4 and v6 are discussed and compared and then you begin to delve into the routing protocols, both interior and exterior.

The book finishes up with new ideas such as multicasting and overall seems to layout the Internet in fairly easy language. Book 2 - Voice over IP is new to the set and is written by Uyless Black. Black starts this excellent book off with an overview of telephony and the Internet.

Also covered is DSPs, Voice coders, DSL, modems, PPP, the role of the ISP, performance issues, VoIP Protocols, Voice alternatives and ISDN. Black is very good at breaking down the subject matter and making sure the reader can understand the concepts.

Finally comes book 3 - Cisco Certification: Bridges, Routers and Switches for CCIEs 2nd Edition, written by 2 well-respected CCIEs and authors. Over 900 pages broken down into six parts, part one is the configuration of the hardware.

Part 2 is breakdown of IP and the configurations of the routing protocols like RIP, OSPF, IGRP, EIGRP and BGP. Part 3 deals with non-ip routing, part 4 is bridging and part 5 is for management. Overall the entire collection is some of the best technical material I have seen so far.

One of the toughest, if not the toughest certification to get is CCIE. That's why it's very important to make sure that the books you use are the best out there. Prentice Hall has put together the only CCIE Library I have seen.

In book 1 of the 3 - ATM Volume III - the entire world of ATM is taken apart and dissected for you. Encapsulation, frame relay, DXI and FNNI, LNNI and ARP, multiprotocols over ATM are but a few of the topics discussed in great detail. In the second book - Routing in the Internet 2nd Edition - the book is broken down into 4 parts. Part1 discusses IP and associated protocols including IP V.6. Part 2 takes a look at the interior routing protocols like RIP and OSPF, it does breakdown both RRIP1 and RIP2.

Part 3 is the exterior protocols like BGP and CIDR. Finally in part 4 you have explanations of new developments in multicasting and mobile hosting. The book is well written and well documented and the author really gives a complete look at the internet and how routing is used.

The final book - Cisco Certification - Bridges, Routers and Switches for CCIE is written by Andrew Bruce Caslow a CCIE himself. Caslow has written several other book on the CCNA certification and as with the other books this is an excellent reference manual.

The advanced routing techniques like ISDN and DDR as well as excellent coverage of the Catalyst 5000 switch are some the topics Caslow goes over is this book. Caslow also sheds light on ATM and extensive detail on IP Addressing and routing.

Protocols like RIP, IGRP, EIRGP and OSPF as with non-IP routing protocols AppleTalk, DECNET and IPX are broken down for you. Caslow's knowledge of bridging, which includes source route, transparent and translation is nothing short of tremendous.

Caslow's book has sample scenarios, about the only thing it doesn't do it take the test for you. Prentice Hall has a great number of book on computers and networking and you should checkout their website today. Overall this book can be used as a handy reference manual and a study guide for Cisco tests. The price is small in comparison to what you get.

If you prepare for CCIE written test, buy Ccie Resource Library. This 3 volume set will gain your knowledge and experience about internetworking skills. Full of some very usefull case studies, network design, etc. No matter where you are in your progress towards the exam, this book is a worthwhile addition to your Cisco library.

The entire book contains output from numerous working configurations. These examples confirm that the authors did not just throw together another theory book, but have taken the time and effort to create scenarios that can be recreated by the reader. A CD accompanies the book, and contains complete configurations so that the reader can copy and paste them into home lab hardware.

In short, this book is one of the most interesting books concerning certification topics. After you read these 3 set books, I guarantee you pass the CCIE written test. Buy it, and plan to stay up late the night of your purchase. You won't be disappointed.

great book, easy to follow along for the most part. i had to read the subnetting chapter twice but eventually i got it. if you read this book and understand it, youll pass the test

I like the way the book was written. The material isn't the easiest to get through, but this book makes it digestible. I never used the Lab that is included, but I already had years of experience working with Cisco gear.

Prior to this book I was reading the Cisco Press CCNA Self-study: CCNA Preparation Library. This book is infinitely better at teaching someone who isn't already familiar with the Cisco world. The Cisco book just seems to present facts, whereas the author of this book seems to truly understand how to teach someone. This book saved me from being eternally lost in subnetting, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

It is a great book which covers all topics in order to pass the CCNA exam. You have the router and switch simulator to improve and apply your skills.

I definitely recommend you buy this book if you really want to pass, but also to learn about routers and switches.

Good Luck !!