Book details of 'Networks (2nd Edition)'

Title	Networks (2nd Edition)
Author(s)	Timothy Ramteke
ISBN	0139012656
Language	English
Published	July 2000
Publisher	Prentice Hall

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The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Networks (2nd Edition)':

Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
When I saw the first edition of Ramteke's book, with its singular title of "Networks," it was bemusing. Did it cover more on TCP/IP? LANs? WANs? Public switched telephone networks? Yes. And very well, too. Using three major examples of networks, with a few additional digressions, it covered the concepts of networking. So I expected the second edition to be more of the same. Ramteke obviously thought so, too, since his introduction states that he has followed the same format. However, I found the books to be quite different. This new edition is more than 200 pages longer, and the additional material appears to concentrate on many more specific network systems. Therefore, while the title originally seemed to imply a discussion of networking as an abstraction, the appellation now appears to refer more to a catalogue of networks. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Hidebound old teachers, like myself, who need a rigorous structure to a course will find it difficult to find chapters to assign for different topics. (It would probably be easier simply to assign sections and pages: there is lots of material to choose from.) Readers, however, will find a great deal of interest in the diverse topics, and telecommunications professionals will find it handy to have a quick guide to different types of networks as they move into diverse fields. Most of the material is familiar to old hands: analog and digital signals, transmission systems, basic LAN concepts, basic Internet concepts, SNA (Systems Network Architecture), X.25 (still doesn't mention Datapac), signalling system 7, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), SONET (Synchronous Optical NETwork), frame relay, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), advanced LAN concepts, bridging and routing, and additional TCP/IP concepts. There is a section on voice networks, covering signalling, switching, PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), wireless communication and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), private networks, voice processing, and T1 networks. Other chapters also seem to show a predilection for telephony. Some of the chapters seem slightly out of place, such as business and residential network services, and Linux adminstration. The topic of VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) would seem to belong, were it not for the fact that most of the text in this piece deals with basic cryptography rather than its application. In my original review I stated that this book has the potential to become a technical classic. I am not certain that this new development takes the work further in that direction. Although Ramteke has thoroughly reworked and updated the content, the increased emphasis on details of specific networks may date the volume quickly. The book is, though, as readable as ever, and is still a good resource for anyone wanting to understand this important aspect of communications. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994
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