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This book is more than a reference.
Of course, it will come in handy to many professionals who need to bone up instantly on the capabilities or interface requirements of a particular communication technology. For them, Ray Horak gets to the point quickly every time and seems to anticipate the questions that arise in your mind as you unravel each subject.
But it’s not just about protocols and layers. It’s about is context. And it’s not a coincidence that that’s the name of Ray’s corporation.
Putting a network into context means putting it into the real world and explaining what some typical uses and challenges might be. The original framers of the Internet had no idea some college student would want to use it to make cheap international phones calls. But once you and I understand that, we can better provide solutions for our ourselves and others.
The Handbook of Communications Systems and Networks provides a political context, too, in its exploration of the regulatory environment. There is even a thought-provoking look into the future with the unrealized capabilities of B-ISDN and AINS.
As a technology reporter on television and radio, I have known Ray as both a colleague and an interview subject. In TV parlance, he’s a great sound bite. It’s gratifying to see him apply his broad understanding and rare communications skills to such a complex and moving target.
Context is what it’s all about.
Richard Hart
Host of the Discovery Channel's The Next Step and C|net's C|net Central
Why This Book is For You
[T]he intellectual treatment of any datum, any experience, any subject, is determined by the nature of our questions, and only carried out in the answers.
—Susanne K. Langer, Philosophy in a New Key (1942)
Communications Systems and Networks anticipates virtually every question you might have about the fundamentals of communications systems and networks. The answers both address the origins and describe the evolutionary paths of the concepts and underlying technologies. Sufficient technical detail is provided for thorough understanding of communcations technologies and their meaningful application. Those who wonder how and why networks work will find that this book answers those questions in a plain-English and commonsense way.
Communications Systems and Networks begins with discussion of fundamental concepts of voice, data, video systems, and networks in both the wired and wireless world and guides the reader through the complexities of networks and networking, from the most basic to the most complex, from the mature to the developing, from the practical to the still conceptual. Communications Systems and Networks is absolutely unique in the breadth of subjects covered and manner in which they are presented. The technologies and their applications of voice, data, video systems, and networks are set in the context of standards and regulation. Costs and cost issues involving the technologies are compared and contrasted. The reader will find this book to flow very logically and smoothly, weaving something of a story in the process, punctuated with reallife examples and endowed with a sense of humor.
This book is intended for several distinct types of readers. Those who are new to the world of voice, data, and video 0communications, and those who have a need to understand communications systems and networks in context, will find Communications Systems and Networks to be an essential part of that learning experience. Those more experienced will find that this book provides a comprehensive update of older technologies, and that it explains new and emerging technologies with unusual clarity and purpose. Executives, managers and communications professionals of every description will find Communications Systems and Networks to be an invaluable reference well into the future of the networked world.
Through this book, you will:
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