Business Data Communications (5th Edition)

Book Description

The fifth edition of this popular book presents the fundamental concepts of data communications, networking, distributed applications, and network management and security; and uses real world case studies to explicate business environment and business management and staff issues. Up-to-date coverage of key issues-the use of the Internet, intranets, and extranets support business objectives, LANs, WANs, high-speed networks, asychronous transfer mode (ATM) and TCP/IP. Accessible presentation for information systems managers, telecommunications managers, product marketing personnel, and system support specialists.

Customer Reviews:

Very very technical.......2007-03-07

Having read reviews prior to purchasing the book, I thought, it can't be that bad. I was wrong. All of the reviews are accurate and true descriptions of the book. I purchased the book as required text for a graduate introductory course in data communications. What can you do if you're stuck with this book and you must read it " for class"? Read the summary at the end of each chapter FIRST. This might help you grasp what the author is trying to say in a long, extended, technical and scientific way.

The book includes scientific descriptions of data communication. Perhaps the book is extremely on point for engineering students or someone with interest in creating a data communications or telecommunications system from scratch for an organization. However, addressing the issues from a business perspective is not the primary focus of the book. Reading the chapter demands utmost concentration and the ability to extract key concepts about the subject under discussion. It is not clear why this book seems to pop up so often as the required text. There are many books that address data communications from a business perspective. It is an arcane academic selection as required text for a non-engineering data communications course.

Priceless - or should be.......2005-12-14

I am completing my MSIS degree. I was required to use this textbook for one of my classes. I felt the book was possibly appropriate for an engineering computer science program on a "how things work" level but a terrible waste of time for business students. If I want to buy a cell phone I don't care HOW the cell phone works. I only care that it DOES work, and that it is dependable, accurate, reliable, and cost effective. Stop putting the OSI model in these textbooks. Just teach TCP/IP because that's what is used. If you're going to put problems at the end of the chapters, provide solutions to the students. Otherwise, you're just wasting paper because nobody will ever use them. Why work on them if you don't have a solution to compare your answers to? I have spoken to nearly half the people in my class. All agree. This textbook was a terrible choice for our class in the business program. None of us feel we learned anything of value from studying from this book.

I sincerely hope our instructor and program director will find a different book to use for future classes.

Business Data Communications.......2005-10-04

This book arrived in a timely manner and in excellent condition. I would purchase fromthis seller again.

Not an Appropriate Introductory Textbook.......2004-08-26

A course I took earlier this year used this textbook, and I wasn't too fond of it. The book's explanations were very clinical, and other reviewers are correct in observing that it has many typographical errors (which are very frustrating when trying to solve mathematically inclined equations).

The professor deviated substantially from the text, supplying us with several real-world examples and more on the theory behind the examples given in the book. If he had not done that, I do not think I would have been able to learn the material from the book alone. Many of its explanations are too brief and lack depth or supporting examples.

If you are teaching an information systems course and intend to use this textbook, be prepared to supplement it with substantial cases or lose the interest and comprehension of your students.

Good Book for CIS Majors.......2004-07-02

I bought this book for an online course on Network Communications which I took as a Computer Science major. This book is riddled with technical information and looks at things from an 'implementation cost' perspective (the case studies at the end of almost every chapter are good examples of this) which is good for Computer Information Systems (CIS) majors since they tend to focus more on the business aspect of the 'field'.

The majority of the chapters are easy reading (if you like reading technical info.). I found some of the problems at the end of some chapters to be quite challenging (which was a treat being the geek that I am). I've also used this book as reference for TCP/IP when doing low-level network programming.

Book Description

Today's businesses are overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, cutomized for more customers, and for more media than ever before. Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy provides the concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technological options that will prepare enterprise content managers and authors to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content.

Author Ann Rockley, along with the Rockley Group team, provides techniques that will help you define your content management requirements, build your vision, design your content architecture, pick the right tools, and overcome the hurdles of managing enterprise content. This book will help you visualize the broad spectrum of enterprise content, the requirements for effectively creating, managing, and delivering content, and the value of developing a unified content strategy for your organization.

Customer Reviews:

An expert's view on unifying information.......2007-07-26

Actually implementing a content management solution, even for a small company, is a daunting prospect. Not only do you have to consider a myriad of concrete tasks in order to audit, centralize, and reuse your information. You also have to "sell" a major work-style change to numerous players. Even knowing where to start can be overwhelming, and that's where Ann Rockley's book Managing Enterprise Content comes in.

Authoritative and experienced, Rockley acknowledges that enterprise content management is not for everyone (a refreshing change from those pushing cookie-cutter solutions). In cases where content management could solve business problems, Rockley makes her case with calm conviction, breaking the subject down into logical chunks. In particular, her chapters on designing metadata (the "information about information" that is key to effective and scalable content management) and workflow (the designation of who does what, when) are lucid and comprehensive.

Whether your objective is to get a grasp of the subject, sell an implementation to your organization, or just digest what an impending implementation will mean to you, you'll want Rockley's book on your desk.

An excellent starting point for tech writers making the move to single sourcing........2007-05-25

I came to this book from a very different direction than many (all?) of the other reviewers. I'm a technical writer ("content developer") researching methods and tools for single-sourcing technical documentation. For my purposes, this book was an excellent starting point in recognizing and understanding the considerations that must be taken into account when migrating to a single-source solution (i.e., one tool and set of practices for developing documentation to be delivered in multiple media), defining a new set of practices, and evaluating an authoring tool. I recommend this book strongly to any tech writer/manager who needs help understanding the basics of single-sourcing.

Content reuse, not Enterprise Content Management...,.......2006-11-05

This book's title has probably attracted those interested in Enterprise Content Management. ECM has increasingly become a major buzz in business strategy circles as the information age tidal wave spills over into organizations and floods them with content. We're literally drowning. "Managing Enterprise Content" does not discuss ECM in broad terms, such as structured and unstructured content, email, scanned documents, OCR, ICR, etc. Instead, it focuses on content reuse. To take a simple example, a product brochure, a website, and a press release all include descriptions of a product. Why, the book argues, rewrite that description three separate times for each medium? Why not write it just once, store it in a content management system, and then reuse it over and over again? "Content Modularization" or "Content Reuse" probably describe the goals of this book less confusingly than "Managing Enterprise Content." But, in fairness to the authors, the current title isn't inaccurate, it just lends itself easily to misunderstanding. To reiterate: those looking for a course in Enterprise Content Management conforming to the Association for Information and Image Management's (AIIM) guidelines should look elsewhere.

Nonetheless, those looking for a strategy to manage distributable content throughout an organization should take a look at "Managing Enterprise Content." The focus remains on implementing a "unified content strategy," which translates essentially to an efficient reuse of content. Here the word "content" has a specific sense relating to verbiage authored for a specific use. Product descriptions, mission and vision statements, disclaimers, compliance and regulatory announcements, anything widely distributable qualifies. How does one efficiently manage the creation and the evolution of such content across an organization? This obviously implies some form of centralization (although this pregnant term gets strategically avoided for obvious reasons). And this further implies a software system. But prior to purchasing an expensive application, the business must align itself process-wise to enable content reuse. Otherwise the costly program will sit and rot. The first three parts of the book (I - III), comprising its first twelve chapters, discuss these necessary preparations and walk the reader through to implementation. This progression mirrors, for good reasons, the project management and software development life cycle processes. First, determine the concept or the "why?" of the project (Chapters 1 & 2). Then perform cost benefit analysis (Chapter 3 discusses ROI for content reuse), analyze and prioritize the current content infrastructure, the "As-Is" (Chapters 4 through 6), look to the future by modeling and designing the elements of the system the "To-Be" (Chapters 7 through 11), and finally implement the reusable content infrastructure (Chapter 12). Evaluation of software tools and technology should come before implementation, but the book instead covers these topics in Part IV (Chapters 13 to 18). So it's that easy to implement a unified content strategy? Well, no, not really.

Part V, the book's final section, outlines the inevitable issues that face organizational restructuring. Implementation of a unified content strategy will probably necessitate fundamental changes. Roles will get changes, people moved around, departments will get realigned or reorganized. All of this can sap morale or cause anxiety amongst employees. The author is not an authority on such issues, so this section of the book remains somewhat cursory and high-level. Conflict management gets deferred to a website (the book contains an out of date URL, but the book's website[...] has an updated address), and the advice presented here will probably not surprise anyone. Still, managing change remains an important part of any new implementation and this section, though rudimentary, will at least raise awareness.

Lastly, the appendices contain a grab bag of information. Appendix C, on vendors, has probably suffered from age (these days, a lot can happen in three years), but it may provide some good leads. Appendix B, "Writing for Multiple Media," probably could have appeared in the main body of the book; it contains important details not covered elsewhere.

Overall, the book does give a plausible outline for implementing the proposed strategy. Some of the chapters may seem overly simplistic or overlong to those experienced with system implementations or business process management. At the very least, "Managing Enterprise Content" may introduce some readers to the concept of enterprise content reuse. That concept remains a challenging one that will likely mean different things to different organizations. So this book does not provide the final word on the subject, nor does it intend to. An organization can only use this book as a blueprint or a guidepost for implementing its own unified content strategy.

Review of Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Str.......2004-05-21

Are you overwhelmed with the need to create more content, faster, customized for more customers, and for more media than ever before? Do you consider storing documentation on a server as an effective a content management system? Do you want to learn how content management will empower your organization? The answer to these questions and many more is covered in Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy by Ann Rockley with Pamela Kostur and Steve Manning of The Rockley Group. The Rockley Group is one of the leading providers of content management methodologies.

Managing Enterprise Content provides concepts, strategies, guidelines, processes, and technical options that will prepare you to meet the increasing demands of creating, managing, and distributing content. It describes techniques that will help you define your content management requirements, build your vision, design your content architecture, select tools, and overcome obstacles of managing enterprise content. It will help you to visualize the spectrum of enterprise content, the requirements for effectively creating, managing, and delivering content, and the value of developing a content strategy for your organization. That¡¦s a lot of information for one person to understand. That¡¦s why the book is written for three audiences: content managers, information architects, and authors. Managing Enterprise Content follows the same methodical approach that Rockley uses to teach content management in seminars and workshops.

I was expecting the book to jump into the technologies to implement a content management system. But that¡¦s not how Rockley presents content management. She begins with The basis of a unified content strategy and describes how content is created, who creates it, why authors work in isolation, and the consequences of isolation and centralizing content. The solution is to consolidate content in a definitive source, and a process that encourage authors to work collaboratively. The next step is to assess opportunities for content reuse. If you have never heard the term ¡¥reusing content,¡¦ you may know it as single sourcing. You probably already reuse content (i.e. copy and paste), which works well until the information, and everywhere that it appears, must be updated. Content reuse involves using existing content components (e.g. paragraphs, sections, and chapters) to develop new documents. Implementing a unified content strategy is a costly investment: tools, technologies, and training are not cheap. Investment costs are incurred in technology, training and consulting, and lost productivity.

Examples are given to calculate the cost of authoring tools, content management systems, training and consulting¡Xa content management system is not a plug and play, one size fits all solution. The return on investment is achieved by reduced time to market, reduced cost of product content development, improved accuracy and quality of content, and reduced manufacturing defects. The examples are especially helpful because you will need to create a proposal to convince budget holders and management on the return on investment of a content management solution.

Are you ready to buy a content management system? Not yet, read further. ¡§Performing a substantive audit: Determining business requirements¡¨ begins with an introduction on how to determine goals that you want a unified content strategy to solve, for example:
h Reduce the time to plan, write, review, approve, and publish
h Create flexible content that is easily reused to create information products for multiple products and multiple media
h Reduce the cost of translation by reusing existing translations.
h Make content more accessible; separating content from format makes it possible for content to be displayed automatically in a format appropriate to the disability.
Rockley describes how to identify opportunities where a unified approach of content management (i.e. planning, design, authoring and revision, version control, access control, publication and delivery to its audiences) is beneficial.

You are probably wondering how this all fits together, and Rockley explains how. ¡§Design¡¨ describes information modeling and metadata, how to personalize content, how to design a workflow, and how to implement your design.

An information model is critical for a unified content strategy because it provides a framework for documentation. It's the 80/20 rule: 80% of your effort is planning and analysis, and 20% of your effort is implementing the solution with whatever tools are selected to accomplish the goals the organization has set for itself. The level of detail of your information model depends on the level of reuse you want to achieve.

Many desktop publishing tools can dynamically publish personalized letters and forms by matching elements such as names and address¡Xa content management system can do the same. I was confused why design is given so much attention. Why not conduct the audit, buy the tools, and worry about design later? You can¡¦t. The design of information, reuse models/maps, meta data and workflow are all tool independent tasks. Regardless of the tools selected, you must first analyse and then design a content or information model so that it can be presented to IT staff and software vendors. Doing this in advance makes it possible for you to ask vendors to respond to a request for proposal and document how their tools can help you satisfy your specific challenges. Analysis provides an opportunity to collect metrics. From your information models, you can identify how much of your content could be reusable and where.

Educated on how content is used, where and how, you are better prepared to match the tools and technology to the origination¡¦s goals to deliver a unified content management solution. ¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ offers guidelines for evaluating tools. With so many tools and technologies to choose from, selecting the one that best satisfies your goals and budget is a challenge. Your best advantage is to be an educated consumer before you shop around. Rockley recommends that you identify your needs, and criteria for evaluating product options in terms of usability, training provided, supporting documentation provided, technical support, upgrades and enhancements, implementation time, cost, vendor viability, partnerships the vendor has to provide an expanded solution, and references. Where do you being looking?

Some good sources are conferences where vendors present authoring solutions such as the annual STC conference, electronic mailing lists, technology magazines, Web sites and online discussion boards and newsgroups. A supplement to ¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ is Appendix C, ¡§Vendors,¡¨ which is an overview of products, features and vendors. Appendix D, ¡§Tools Checklist,¡¨ which lists sample questions to ask a vendor. When you have narrowed your list of potential vendors, Rockley suggests that you either contact the vendors and request onsite demonstrations or send vendors an RFP (request for proposal).

¡§Tools and technologies¡¨ covers XML because it provides interoperability between applications. XML is not a set of tags that you apply to documents; it is a specification that sets rules for the creation of tag sets that you apply to documents. For instance, if you selected tools first and then designed your content, you might find that some of the content does not behave the way you expect it to. One solution would be to use XSLT to transform the content and move it around where you want it. While this may be an acceptable solution, it¡¦s not. The conversion costs time, money, and resources. There is no need to convert or transform content if it¡¦s modelled in XML from the start.

Rockley describes strategies for collaborative authoring, how to separate content from format, how to manage change and transition. An example is given to illustrate how the same product description is reused effectively to create a show catalog, brochure, press release and Web site. It¡¦s easy to understand that people find it hard to believe that content somebody else created could possibly meet their needs. After all, Rockley notes, it was written for a different purpose and media, and the author could not have known their customers/audience/requirements. However, if content is written for a different purpose, audience, or media without considering how the content can be reused, it¡¦ won¡¦t work.

Don¡¦t be optimistic that everybody will be willing to convert to a better way of authoring and managing content. Rockley presents issues to consider when planning your change management strategy such as overcoming resistance from opponents and descriptions of new and modified roles. She recommends creating a role for an enterprise project coordinator and information technologist; a change to existing roles business owners or analysts and information architects; and new skill sets (p. 413-415). Unintentionally overlooked are system administrators to maintain the content management system and to ensure that users adhere to standards.

Don¡¦t be overly optimistic that everybody will want morph into new roles and change their authoring habits. An XML system is best suited and ideal for a large documentation department for all content authoring or an organization where every author uses the XML authoring tool. A team of ten or fewer will be constrained to balance XML implementation and documentation project duties, and learn how to use the (new) content management system. Even if you assign the complex task of XML implementation and creation of information models, workflows and DTDs to a consultant, the consultant will require guidance from the team. These are only a few of the constraints to overcome to assure a successful unified content strategy that Rockley expertly describes how to overcome.

Managing Enterprise Content concludes with a checklist for implementing a unified content strategy, suggestions for writing for multiple media, sample questions to ask vendors, a checklist for the tools required to implement a unified content strategy, and the importance of content relationships in version control. Pay close attention to usability. The rollout of a content management system, authoring tools, and authoring standards affects every member of the organization. If it¡¦s not easy to learn, easy to use, easy to support, and easy to maintain, authors will revert to the traditional way of writing and managing content.

Read Managing Enterprise Content before you invest in a content management system and consulting fees. You will be an educated and informed customer and user when you begin shopping for a content management solution of your own.

A must for Content Management projects.......2004-02-02

This book is an absolute must for Content Management projects. It touches all of the important aspects: Technical, functional and process. There is something for all stakeholders in a EMS/CMS project.

Especially good about this book is that the parts that are not your direct job are still very readable, understandable and interesting. It provides valuable insights in other peoples jobs and reasoning.

Coming from the technical side and with a lot of experience in setting up systems and also information architecture and DTD design, for me this book contained several new insights and some very helpfull checklists.

Book Description

This book has 11 core chapters that form a complete introduction to networking. Mini chapters follow 4 of the chapters (ch. 1, 3, and 8, and 9) with case studies or hands-on exercises reinforcing material in the previous core chapter. In addition, three advanced modules at the end of the book (Module A, B, and C) contain material teachers may wish to cover selectively for emphasis

Customer Reviews:

Terrible Book.......2005-01-22

This book is awful. The revisions to it are updated, but to follow the book in order is nearly impossible. This is a text book being used at a college. The information in this book is scattered and makes learning the concepts difficult. I do not recommend this book for use at colleges/universities. There has to be another book out there that allows users to learn the concepts and terminology in an easier fashion.

Six Stars!.......2004-03-03

I've recently completed a course using this textbook. Excellent!!! It has been a long time (if ever) since I have actually enjoyed reading a textbook. I feel it should be mandatory reading for all authors and potential authors who will ever feel the need to publish a textbook for undergraduate level work in a technical field.

Most of the many corrections on the online corrections page are minor and insignificant (i.e. typos) and would probably go unnoticed by the reader. With press deadlines in technologies being what they are, it is fully understandable. The choice to include those corrections (a) gave me a sense of security in that it demonstrated the author's thoroughness and (b) proves that you don't have to cut a new edition of your work every six months (which can be quite annoying for anyone who is looking to get a specific edition for class).

I was pretty much convinced that it was impossible to design and publish a textbook in a technical field of a caliber such as this. In general, technical authors either confuse the reader by over complicating the layout and material or they put the reader to sleep by being overly shallow and overly redundant. This is not the case for this book. In the words of Goldilocks, this one is "just right". I strongly recommend it to anyone, whether they have a class requirement for it or not.

Great Book, using in my PSU networking class.......2003-03-02

This book is great, it starts from the beginning of the networking age and goes through all the newest technologies and ideas about networking. Covers the business aspects of networking, wireless, how TCP/IP works and pretty muct the 802 standars. Book covers everything, this is one book I won't be selling back. A really good reference book for the basics of networking and rules to follow as well when getting into the networking field.

Great Book, but Check Author's Web Site for Corrections.......2002-12-24

I just finished a semester with this book. Loved it! I didn't think I'd every say that about a textbook, but this one really makes it easy to remember the material. It does so by quizzing you at the end of every section instead of just waiting until the end of the chapter. I found that it significantly improved my retention rate.

I will however caution you that there are errors present in many of the chapters. The errors I came across looked like they were mainly due to poor editing and validation of the technical material. I STRONGLY recommend that you go to the author's web site as he quickly posts any and all corrections by chapter.

For ... dollars, you'd think that the book's publisher, Prentice Hall, would have reviewed the book a bit more thoroughly before publication.

Errors aside, this is a great book that will mostly likely improve further with the next edition.

Great Overview of Data Communications.......2000-12-05

We used this book in my graduate MIS course, and it was a great tool for learning the basics about data communications and networking. Many of my classmates thought that Panko did a great job of explaining data comm concepts, whether it was something as simple as an ethernet LAN, or as complex as an ATM network. Everyone in my class seemed to enjoy the text (both highly technical students with a background in data comms, and students who were learning the material for the first time).

The book is designed to give readers a general overview of a subject, then drill down into the details in later chapters. He starts with the basics (layers, encapsulation, protocols, etc), and then gets into how networks are built from the ground up. Panko has included numerous modules at the end of the book if you want to learn even more about a specific topic.

The author has also put together slides for each chapter which were very helpful in explaining difficult concepts, or emphasizing certain chapters in the text. If you can get a copy of them, I highly recommend using them.

Book Description

Do you have more email accounts and messages than you can possibly manage? Do you often forget important details? How many times have you misplaced an important email address? Guess what? You can solve all these problems with Microsoft Outlook 2003, a component of Microsoft Office, and Outlook 2003 For Dummies will show you how!

Over 100 million people use Outlook, but many only utilize a few features. Outlook is extremely versatile and can perform a wide range of functions like:

E-mail organization
Calendars and to-do lists
Personal directories
Journal-keeping

With Outlook 2003 For Dummies, regarded as the #1 bestselling book on the subject, you will be able to get the most out of Outlook and finally organize your busy life. Whether you’re in your home or office, Outlook can make your day go smoothly and more efficiently. This comprehensive guide explores:

How to manage, organize, and get on top of your e-mails
How to create your own virtual little black book
Calendar features and how to manage and assign tasks
Recording your activities with Outlook Notes and journal entries
Outlook Express and how to get news e-mails from newsgroups
Security features to keep your life private and safe
Customizing Outlook with accessories
Advanced functions and useful tips and shortcuts

Written by Bill Dryszel, the award-winning author of Microsoft Outlook 2000 for Dummies, Treo Visor For Dummies, and Palm For Dummies, this book offers expert advice in a down-to-earth kind of manner. Outlook 2003 For Dummies offers a quick and easy way to get the hang of this useful program and start managing your daily tasks with efficiency.

Customer Reviews:

No Set Up Instruction.......2007-09-18

This book tells how to do a lot with Outlook, but doesn't give the reader a clue how to set it up in the first place. Given the technical terms used by ISPs, it would have been useful to have some definitions and examples of setup. I can't use the book until I somehow figure that out.

Outlook 2003 for Dummies.......2007-07-17

Has a lot of functionality that is easily understood by reading over the book. Good tips.

The Ultimate "How To".......2007-05-07

For those of us not saddled with an office environment, corporate networks, and the need to broadcast trivia to a hundred people, OUTLOOK is a boon. Realizing the capabilities of the tool come at the price of being able to USE it! And, unhappily, as with all sequential pursuits, one needs guidance if the "How To" is to be mastered. AS with all the "Dummies" offerings, countless hours are saved by being able to walk through a guided "How To" on the way to mastering the tool.

Long live the authors of the Outlook 2003 for Dummies presentation! May their tribe increase.

outlook 2003.......2006-07-08

Very user friendly. I learned several tips that will be very helpfull.

Computer Dummy.......2006-03-15

No Surprises here. It is exactly what you would expect for a Dummies book! I have been an outlook user for a long time and I know how to do much more than before!

Average customer rating:

Guide to Disaster Recovery
Michael Erbschloe , and John Vacca
Manufacturer: Course Technology
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0619131225

Book Description

Guide to Disaster Recovery presents methods to identify vulnerabilities and take appropriate countermeasures to prevent and mitigate failure risks for an organization. This book provides the networking professional with a foundation in disaster recovery principles, including preparation of a disaster recovery plan, assessment of risks in the enterprise, development of policies and procedures, an understanding of the roles and relationships of various members of an organization, implementation of the plan, testing and rehearsal of the plan, and actually recovering from a disaster. The book takes an enterprise-wide approach to developing a disaster recovery plan. Students will learn how to create a secure network by putting policies and procedures in place, and how to restore a network in the event of a disaster.

Business Data Communications and Networking

Average customer rating:

CAUTION: Does NOT provide an outline, NOT even a study guide -- this isn't the hardcover
Sometimes you have to buy a book for school...
Easy to read and understand
Great Introductory book for Networks
Almost, but not quite there.....

Business Data Communications and Networking
Jerry FitzGerald , and Alan Dennis
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Accessories:

ASIN: 0471771163

Book Description

Updated with the latest advances in the field, Jerry FitzGerald and Alan Dennis' Ninth Edition of Business Data Communications and Networking provides the fundamental concepts, cutting-edge coverage, balanced presentation, and practical, real-world applications that professionals and students need to succeed in this fast-moving field.

Customer Reviews:

CAUTION: Does NOT provide an outline, NOT even a study guide -- this isn't the hardcover.......2007-09-21

CAUTION: Most of the reviews listed for this Cram101 really describe the real hardcover textbook. Don't make the same mistake that I did...I bought this softcover "outline" and it was the next best thing to being robbed. There are 65 pages in the book, 33 of those pages are blank (college ruled notebook paper) and the other 32 list unrelated, useless definitions.

Every other page in the book is blank (they say: so you can create your own outline). Wait! Isn't that what they claim that they are selling you here?? The description tells you the textbook is not included...well surprise, neither is the textbook OUTLINE!

The pages that aren't blank only list definitions (isn't that what the dictionary is for?) But even the definitions are worthless. They repeat the same definitions over and over (for example, 'accounting' is repeated more than 7 times--I counted!). Additionally, they define things that are not useful like the words: budget, inventory, users, license...etc). I had to check the title again, because none of this related to the real textbook on Data Communications & Networking!

I soon realized that the real purpose of the "book" is to get the buyer to go to the cram101 website and purchase more services. SAVE YOUR MONEY, there are no notes in this so-called book, in fact it would be cheaper to buy some ruled notebook paper and make your own notes from the hardcover textbook.

Sometimes you have to buy a book for school..........2007-08-11

It is what it is. It could have been a lot better but as it is required for my class at BU, I didn't have a choice.

Easy to read and understand.......2006-11-10

The business data communications and networking book is very to read and understand. The bold and italicized writing makes it easier to comprehend the communication being presented. The information is up to date and I'd recommend this book to anyone who requires a clear understanding of business data communications and networking

Great Introductory book for Networks.......2006-03-18

It's a great introduction to networking, with details about LAN, Backbones, and WAN architectures. It is also easy to read and Understand.

Almost, but not quite there............2006-03-17

I purchased this book for a class I was taking. It was the required text for the class. I have 15 years experience in network design and administration and recently returned to school to earn a second degree. I found this text to be overly technical for its intended audience, and would not recommend it to any instructor. Also the accompanying test bank from which an instructor can pull quiz/test questions are absolutely horrible and only serve to confuse students trying to learn.

Business Data Communications (6th Edition)

Average customer rating:

Needs a to be updated
Book is too dated to be effective in emerging technologies.

Business Data Communications (6th Edition)
David A. Stamper , and Thomas L. Case
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0130094285

Book Description

Business Data Communications, 6th edition, meets the need for a clearly written and understandable overview of networking and data communications in today's businesses. With its up-to-date coverage and its blend of technical and managerial concepts, this book recognizes today's major trends and stresses the business perspective for technologies that professionals work with on a daily basis. This book begins with Internet topics before covering more traditional data communication concepts, such as voice networks, modems, LANs, WANs Internetworking technologies, network management, and network security. For network administrators, network managers, and network engineers.

Customer Reviews:

Needs a to be updated.......1998-12-03

Used it as a text book, mainly a reference. With communications rapidly changing it must be difficult to continually update. It is a fair background book, but it doesn't offer much else

Book is too dated to be effective in emerging technologies........1998-06-17

Although updated in 1994, most of the text material discusses old mainframe and terminal applications and was likely written during earlier editions of the text. Reading it did not provide a good basis for the telecommunications area, because it is so dated. In its day, it must have been a great text.

Build the Best Data Center Facility for Your Business (Networking Technology)

Average customer rating:

Helpful handbook
Guidance for Building a Data Center
Review Comments
Good for execs, not for techs.
The Best Book I've Seen on the Subject

Build the Best Data Center Facility for Your Business (Networking Technology)
Douglas Alger
Manufacturer: Cisco Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1587051826

Book Description

A comprehensive guide to designing and operating reliable server environments

Keep your data center cool, clean, scalable, and secure

Learn the five principles of effective data center design

Avoid the natural and man-made hazards that can jeopardize a data center site

Learn how to lay out key infrastructure objects within the data center for greatest efficiency, from buffer zones to server rows

Apply proven installation methods by studying sample illustrations of both overhead and under-floor systems

Extract the best practices and design strategies for both in-room and standby electrical infrastructure

Avoid accidental downtime, improve productivity, and ensure user safety

Safeguard and streamline your network infrastructure with a well-organized physical hierarchy

Understand the special challenges of retrofitting overburdened server environments

Implement solutions from a wide array of sample illustrations and examples of essential data center signage

Safeguard servers with operations standards for people working in or visiting the data center

Download templates used by Cisco to design its data centers, customizable to square footage and geography

Avoid excess construction costs by designing a data center that meets your needs today and for many years to come

All data centers are unique, but they all share the same mission: to protect your company’s valuable information. Build the Best Data Center Facility for Your Business answers your individual questions in one flexible step-by-step reference guide.

Benefit from the author’s concise and practical approach to data center design and management. The author distills this complex topic by sharing his first-hand and worldwide experience and expertise. Regardless of your experience level, you can fill your knowledge gaps on how to safeguard your company’s valuable equipment and intellectual property.

This easy-to-navigate book is divided into two parts: Part I covers data center design and physical infrastructure details, and Part II covers data center management and operations. You can also access supplementary online materials for installation instructions, which include customizable data center design templates, written cabling specifications, and sample drawings.

If you need a starting point for designing your first data center, regardless of size; if you need to prepare yourself with comprehensive strategies to retrofit or improve an existing one; or if you need proven methods to manage a data center for maximum productivityâthis book is your readily accessible, comprehensive resource for answers and insights.

Invest in the best future for your business by learning how to build and manage robust and productive data centers now.

This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Pressâ which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.

Customer Reviews:

Helpful handbook.......2006-04-17

This CiscoPress book is quite an outsider compared to other more classical CiscoPress material. It does not talk about networking itself but about how to build
the physical infrastructure to host a data center, focusing on several areas such as temperature control, electrical and networking availability, or simply explains how to choose between raised floor or ceiling installations... The author of the book manages over 40 data centers all around the world, so you will find every now and then a text box with Douglas' tips or field experiences, which are
very valuable.

The first 9 chapters focus on designing and implementing a data center, from choosing an ideal site and sizing it right, tips on how to present the project to the executives and getting their approval, selecting the contractors who will build the data center etc.
It goes on a chapter at the time talking about the cooling infrastructure, the electrical layout and sizing, the most efficient network layout for both copper and fiber cabling.
The layout of the room is discussed all over these chapters explaining to the reader why not to put all small servers in the same rack (which could be a problem for eletrical and networking availability, heat generation or/and weight), or why the racks must align with floor tiles, how to creare cold and warm rows... Several layout examples are given showing their weaknesses and strengths.
Structural issues are discussed, such as problems with building the room on an upper floor compared to a ground floor, proximity to electromagnetic fields, to heavily polluted areas, or to sismic areas.
Guidelines for employees behaviour in the data center are also stated, with examples of what could happen if these rules are not strictly followed..
The remaining 6 chapters focus on how to get the best out of your data center and to keep it working at its best. Exemples of signage and labeling are shown to
help out the users do the right thing even in emergency situations. Douglas migth seem maniacal about labeling, but my own experience can confirm all he says...label everything!
Items to have in stock and everyday tools are listed to remind us which things should never be missing to help avoiding situations where system administrators cannot complete their job because of a missing patch cord or screwdriver.
Monitoring and professional room cleaning are the last two items discussed in the book and Douglas' experience is very valuable in both areas to give us some tips.

I found this book very interesting since I am running a data center that needs retrofitting soon and Douglas' experiences might come very handy to me. The language is very easy to follow as with most CiscoPress books, which is important for non-English people!

Guidance for Building a Data Center.......2005-10-07

When individuals consider recent events from natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes to terrorist attacks like September 11th, not to mention new government regulations within areas like HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley the need to secure organizations information is becoming more critical. Thus an organizations desire to design and/or construct a data center that will meet these needs has increased.

With in the book "Building the Best Data Center Facility for Your Business" by Douglas Alger guidance for items that need to be considered are presented in a detailed format. The general population and most companies assume that they can set a computer room or data area up without any issues or difficulties, hence it is always assumed that if you have knowledge of Server and Network design and someone that has an understanding of construction you can do it. But when you design a Data Center and consider items like power usage and cooling needs, you need to consider other items like fire suppression and redundant power sources. Within Alger's book we see items that most computer engineers will take for granted like raised flooring, and HVAC (cooling). But we also see items that some may consider common sense like generator power and supply guidance for fueling these generators.

This book I found an excellent baseline and for as the author said in the introductory pages "Setting up a data center is easy. Except that the first time you do it you're going to screw up badly." Hence as I read this book I found myself returning to discussions and implementations I did a few years ago and could see where we made mistakes and learned from them. Alger was correct in his statement and I was further able to reflect in my mind on the discussions that we had on items that included spacing and area needed for computers and networks then on topics like power utilization and cooling needs where always being considered. As I mentioned Alger's book provided me with reflections and will provide anyone reading it individuals with the needed initial guidance on either building or what to consider when improvements both a computer rooms or a data centers. While this book may appear small at only 374 pages including the index, its detail and guidance will add to anyone's knowledge or needs.

Some of the information and definitions like what is a "U" and the difference between DC and AC power are discussed ,but also items like how to properly clean the room with pH neutral items and services as well as how to gather metrics only enhance the books value and understanding. While the book does limit itself to certain rack sizes and power utilizations not comparable with newer equipment occurring today, it does provide an excellent guideline.

I can only hope that you like myself find the book informative and consider it, if nothing more than a guidance on how to work with a proper computer room and data center environment.

Review Comments.......2005-08-26

This is an excellent intorduction to facilities considerations for the data center. I think it would be very useful for an IT professional to get a sound understanding of the scope for the physical layer. There is little comprehensive material available today on this aspect of data center planning and management.

Its refreshing to see an IT manufacturer taking the initiative to address the facilities impacts that arise from the equipment they offer. Most IT vendors out there today leave this up to the customer. Its clear from reading this that Cisco and the author in particular understand this pain and are taking steps to alleviate it. This publication is a customer satisfaction home run in my eyes.

There is a entertaining aspect to this book as well in the real world stories drawn from the authors experience that help to drive home what can happen when to little attention is paid to arguebly the most critical layer of the data center.

We are in the process of purchasing multiple copies of this book for distribution to our data center, IT, application and network managers.

Good for execs, not for techs........2005-08-17

As a introductory primer, this book is passable. As a systems engineer, it offered what I'd term "common sense". There were some formulas to make calculations but not enough, in my opinion, to justify the price. I have not downloaded the online materials yet (including the promised data center design diagrams), but the examples in the book are laughably obvious (at least to a tech).

If you are an executive, this book would be an good resource. Technicians, particularly those with a few years exposure to different data center environments, will find the content mostly redundant. There are a few bright spots, but not enough.

The Best Book I've Seen on the Subject.......2005-07-26

Setting up a data center is easy. Except that the first time you do it you're going to screw up badly. In order to make as much sense as he does, the writer of this book must have screwed up several installations. It's clear that he knows whereof he speaks.

There are only a couple of areas that I'd stress more highly. He talks of power and cooling. A lot of people used such figures, especially people who were setting up big co-location centers. Then these new 1U and 2U servers started coming out, and the number of watts per square foot or meter skyrocketed. Watts were a direct measure of power needed, and in turn of the amount of cooling needed. It also seems that every new Intel processor needs more power. The new Pentium D takes about 140 watts. Four of them in a 2U cabinet is over 600 watts per unit (adding a little for other stuff). 24 of these in a rack is 14,400 watts in about a square meter. The highest rating he shows is 2,000 watts per square meter. Do some calculating before you design.

The next thing I'd add is put your backup center a long ways away from your primary center, like maybe in Europe. A fully redundant center in the same building when an earthquake/bomb/hurricane/fire cuts off power/telephone or whatever does you no good. You might want to outsource this secondary site, just as he says. Or maybe you can put it in the London office and get a good excuse to go visit once in a while.

This book is just about the best summary of data center facility design I've seen.

Business Data Communications: Introductory Concepts and Techniques, Fourth Edition

Average customer rating:

Full of Technical Falsehoods
Out of touch

Business Data Communications: Introductory Concepts and Techniques, Fourth Edition
Gary B. Shelly , Thomas J. Cashman , and Judy A. Serwatka
Manufacturer: Course Technology
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0789568063

Book Description

Business Data Communications Introductory Concepts and Techniques covers fundamental business data communication concepts, beginning with an overview and the companies and government agencies involved in the field; the effects of communications on today's society; types of networks and security; the importance of wireless technologies; e-business applications; and the increased speed in communication services.

Customer Reviews:

Full of Technical Falsehoods.......2005-07-08

I am using this book for a data communications class at a local technical school. This review refers to the Fourth Edition of the book, which is current at the time of this review (7 July 2005).

I agree with the last reviewer who said this book was out-of-date. The book devotes much discussion to hierarchical networks that use mainframes, front-end processors, concentrators, and multiplexors. I consider this to be acceptable since the book is meant for data communications classes and not networking fundamentals classes. Data communications texts should be expected to cover phone systems and evolutions of communications networks, in my opinion. However, the fact that the text discusses these types of networks as though they are the current norm is unacceptable and misleading to new IT students.

In addition, the book has several significant technical and grammatical errors in almost every chapter. Take the following example, which serves as a (false) example of CIDR notation for IP addressing:

"For example, the IP address 186.100.0.0 would appear as 186.100.0.0/20 in the CIDR system. The /20 in this example means that the first 12 bits are used to identify the particular network, leaving the rest of the bits to identify the specific host." (Page 12.12, fifth paragraph)

This example--the only example of CIDR given, and vital to understanding the system--is ABSOLUTELY BACKWARD! The /20 signifies that the first twenty bits of the address are used as the subnet mask, and that the last twelve are used for the host. Fortunately, I have studied for many technical certifications like the CompTIA Network+ and Cisco CCNA and was able to recognize this as I read it. Other students may not be so fortunate.

Here's another example, from the chapter on network security:

"Hackers often try to plant a Trojan Horse (a program that is designed to be hidden on the computer and then start at some predetermined time in the future to do some damage to the computer) or ..." (Page 10.13, second paragraph)

This is also absolutely false. The first part of the definition, that trojan horse programs are hidden, could be considered true, but that they start at a predetermined time in the future, and that they do damage to a computer are both completely false. The widely-accepted definition of a trojan horse is a program that performs a different or an addition function to the one it seems and purports to do. Furthermore, I don't know of a single trojan horse program that does damage to a computer when it executes. Usually, these types of programs open a port and run a daemon on a computer, or perform some other function to leave a security vulnerability. Any damage that results comes after an intruder compromises the system. A "time-bomb" is the common term for a program set to execute at a predetermined time.

This last example seems to me to be far more disturbing: not only is there a technical falsehood (or two) in the statement, it seems that the author(s) sincerely did not know the material. Shelly Cashman publishes a lot of texts for technical schools, and perhaps the authors were too concerned with meeting deadlines or including a comprehensive number of topics, even if they didn't necessarily have experience in these areas. Books from other technical publishers, such as O'REILLY, Deitel & Deitel, and No Starch Press would never consider such errors acceptable. The fact that these errors are still present in the fourth edition is disturbing.

What's more, there is no errata page at the Shelly Cashman website to inform readers of typos or errors in the text. In my opinion, this is absolutely unacceptable for any technical publisher.

Unfortunately, not having a great deal of experience in other areas of the data communications field, like telephony systems and older network architectures, I cannot at present recommend an alternative text, other than one that has a number of good reviews and comes from a more prestigious publisher.

Out of touch.......2000-03-23

This book is a big disappointment. In the rapidly changing field of information technology, it is important to stay somewhat up to date with technology. Although the copyright date is 1997, most of the book has not changed since its first edition (circa 1990?).

This book contains such gems as "Today the ARCNET protocol is widely used in a variety of LANS (Page 7-16)" Ha!

The authors also go into great detail about the wonderous SNA protocol, choices regarding terminals, etc.

TCPIP is listed as a 'Wide Area Networking Protocol' and is not listed under the LAN section.

Some 'recent updates' to the second edition talk about the Internet. The inform the reader about valuable Internet utilities such as Gopher and Archie?

According to this book and a question from the exam pool, Ethernet is used on bus networks only...not star.

Customer Reviews:

Good wireless programing book; ok treatment of other topics.......2001-10-06

"Wireless Internet & Mobile Business How to Program" contains a good discussion of the various elements of programming for wireless devices. The reader will come away from the programming chapters with a solid understanding of how to implement simple structures. The chapter that introduces algorithms is clear and concise; the chapter that introduces control structures is easy to understand (if somewhat odd in its ordering). The chapter that introduces Object Oriented Programming provides a clear introduction to objects. This approach, using several real-world examples, is a good way to orient the non OO-minded to the use of objects. It covers the different aspects of objects in the abstract well. However, it could use a clearer explanation of why developers should use objects instead of the regular, top-down structured programming they've (possibly just) learned. For those new to programming, this is essential.

The book is not really just a "How to Program" manual, as are some of Deitel & Deitel's other similarly named texts. (Their excellent C++ and Java books come to mind.) Some of the chapters, like the one on employment opportunities, are in danger of becoming obsolete quickly. However, overall this is a solid text with good treatment of wireless programming and other loosely related topics.

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