Telecom/1996-04-telecom-walnutcreek.iso/book.reviews/networks-ramteke

Internet Message Format | 1995-01-01 | 4KB

Date: Fri, 27 May 1994 09:39:06 MDT
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "Networks" by Ramteke


BKNTWRKS.RVW  940209

Prentice Hall/Brady/Ellis Horwood/Simon and Schuster/New Riders/Digital Press
113 Sylvan Avenue
Englewood Cliffs, NJ   07632
[phone]    FAX [phone]
[e-mail]  [e-mail] Alan Apt
Beth Mullen-Hespe [e-mail]
"Networks," Ramteke, 1994, 0-13-958059-X
[e-mail]

The task of a reviewer is not necessarily an easy one.  The hours
involved in doing the actual reviews are not overwhelming when set
against the tracking down and requesting of materials.  So, when an
author asks if you want a copy of his book, you generally jump at the
chance.  There is, however, a danger here.  When the book arrives not
from the publisher, but directly from the author, with a covering
letter, personally autographed, you tend to feel a sense of obligation.
One may be dismayed at the possibilities of a book said to cover both
voice and data communications technologies.  To have the book then
arrive with the singular title of "Networks" is bemusing.  What does
it cover?  More on TCP/IP?  LANs?  WANs?  Public switched telephone
networks?

Yes.

And very well, too.

When a book less than 500 pages long attempts to cover concepts of
networks, OSI, fiber optics, telephony, voice processing, SNA, X.25,
SONET, Ethernet, NetWare, ATM and much, much more, something has to be
left out.  Ramteke, though, seems to be able to keep the most practical
aspects of everything he covers.  I have often bemoaned the inability of
NetWare specific books to clarify Novell's security structure.  Here,
it is set out clearly in one page and a single illustration.  Can't
recall the minimum transceiver distance on Ethernet?  It's here.
(Unfortunately the "half wave length"; the reason for the transceiver
distance; isn't.)  Want to know how AT&T differs from MCI and Sprint --
technically?  This is your book.  (And I am not just saying this from any
sense of obligation.)

In the Preface, and more so in the covering letter, Ramteke makes it
clear that he sees this as an introductory networking text.  An outline
is included which sets forth four different course streams for digital
transmission, voice, WANs, and LANs.  Questions are included at the
end of each chapter.  This, however, may sell the book short.  With
the convergence of all forms of communications and networking, the
computer and systems professional may have a need for such a book to
cover gaps in the spectrum of knowledge.  The technical manager, or
even executive, will very likely have a use for the diverse information
contained herein.

Ramteke requests readers to comment on the work to improve it.  I
would heartily recommend that experts in the various fields do so.
This has the potential to become a technical classic.

It isn't perfect.  The chapter questions are very simplistic and
probably only of use as a check to make sure the reader hasn't skipped
anything.  The historical sections, while containing interesting
tidbits, really don't contribute to an analytical understanding of
what is involved.  (Note to authors: when outlining the history of
X.25, don't forget to mention Datapac and the Canadian contribution.
Particularly if you are sending the book to a Canadian reviewer.)  I
can, however, forgive a lot to someone who entitles his glossary of
acronyms, "Last Call for Soup."

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994   BKNTWRKS.RVW  940209. Publication
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated newsgroups/mailing lists.


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