Communications Systems and Networks

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 678 pages
• Published by: Wiley
• Edition: 3rd Edition September 5, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0764548999
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0764548994
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Weighs: 2.2 pounds

Product Review
Living in an era of instant communication has certain drawbacks. Not too long ago, the living was simpler. People had one or two telephone numbers, a street address, and access to four or five television channels. Now, we have phone numbers for home, work, mobile phone, fax machine, and pager. We have multiple e-mail addresses. We have access to unlimited information over the Internet. With digital cable or a personal satellite dish, we choose from hundreds of television channels. The communication technology behind this revolution continues to evolve--becoming faster, cheaper, and more prolific. What technology is behind the scenes, and how does all of this information get delivered? That is the question that's answered by this remarkable tome, Ray Horak's Communications Systems & Networks.

Horak explains communication technologies in 15 chapters, using the growing convergence of voice, data, and video as the narrative thread that holds the book together. He starts at the beginning--telegraph and early telephone--and details the progression from analog voice signals to modern high-speed digital networks. Along the way, he emphasizes technical breadth. For exhaustive detail on any one subject, Horak enumerates relevant sources and suggests additional reading at the end of each chapter. This feature makes this book the ideal place to start when researching any communications topic. Another good thing about this book is its pragmatic approach to communications. Horak blends a high-level view of the subject with implementation and deployment issues, as well as the relative costs of different technologies.

This book is valuable for both engineers and managers. It's a perfect resource for inquisitive engineers who are well versed about one area of communications and want to explore the rest of the communications world. For a manager who wants a technical overview of a given subject, the depth is perfect--just enough knowledge to become dangerous.

The conversational style of the book also is a welcome touch. In contrast to technical books that require a can of Jolt to stay awake, Horak presents complex material concisely. Historical perspective is integrated with technical details, and reflects the author's many years of experience. Topics such as the Telecommunication Act of 1996 are explained in the context of technological change, and give the reader a comprehensive overview of virtually all communication technologies. This book is the perfect complement to such industry mainstays as Perlman's Interconnections, Comer's Internetworking with TCP/IP, and Tanenbaum's Computer Networks. --Pete Ostenson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Review
Perfect for communications professionals and baffled novicesfeatures plain-English explanations for all the technical basics of networking -- Teleconnect magazine, June 2000 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Communications Systems and Networks (Paperback) This book is not for beginners. If you are looking for a really good beginner's book for non-techies, Annabel Dodd's 'The Essential Guide to Telecommunications' would be a good start for you. This book assumes a fair bit of knowledge on the part of the reader and is loaded with a lot of technical language, but if you are even a little comfortable with the telecom language, there's a great deal to be learned from this book. Two things I really like about this book. First, the material is very up-to-date. In one chapter, Horak explains various 'flavors' of DSL very well--differences in how they are provisioned. He also spends a lot of time covering LAN and data networks, which is great considering most telecom traffic will eventually be data (not voice). Second, the diagrams showing how the networking equipment work and connect with each other is very helpful, especially for a guy like me with a non-engineering background. I usually don't use the term 'gripping' to describe a technical book, but Horak's book is just that because I get hungry to learn more about how the whole telecommunications-network-thing works. Perfect to use in defense against those engineers who have looked down on the liberal arts grads for our ignorance of technology!