Data Communications Networking Devices: Operation, Utilization and Lan and Wan Internetworking, 4th Edition

PREFACE

Over fifteen years ago I introduced the first edition of this book with the statement ‘data communications networking devices are the building blocks upon which networks are constructed.’ Although networking technology has made significant advances, that statement retains its validity. Today you can use devices such as bridges and routers that were non-existent in the late 1970s to link local and wide area networks together, while boosting LAN productivity and access through the use of switches and remote access servers that represent products of the 1990s. Thus, the basic rationale and goal of this fourth edition, which is to provide readers with an intimate awareness of the operation and utilization of important networking products that can be used in the design, modification, or optimization of a data communications network, has not changed from the rationale and goal of the first edition. What has changed is the scope and depth of the material included in this book.

In developing this new edition I have taken into consideration and acted upon comments received from both individuals and professors who used the book for a college course on networking. Major changes include an expansion and subdivision of the Fundamental Concepts chapter, which now covers both WANs and LANs in a series of separate chapters focused upon fundamental concepts and advanced networking topics. Other significant changes in this new edition include a chapter covering Wide Area Networks as a separate ...