Practical network management overview & useful Web updates!   August 29, 1999

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Not Recommended - Facts but few keys to understanding   April 12, 1999
  1 out of 3 found this review helpful

Business Data Communication s contains many useful facts about networking; however, in my opinion the book packs too much information into its early chapters. The theory that would help the reader understand networking facts seems to be buried in a forest of acronyms and buzzword terminology.

The book also leaves out a lot of useful networking theory (such as bandwidth delay throughput calculations). In place of more useful additional theory the book gives the reader obsolete pricing information and historical trivia.

I also found the book often uses acronymns such as PDU in place of more descriptive terms such as message, frame, packet.

On the back cover of the book the publisher touts the book. In 'New to this edition:'

Enhanced coverage of TCP/IP, the Internet, intranets, and extranets, with more TCP/IP in the first two chapters than in most other textbooks in total...."(backcover , Panko)

That ought to be a red flag rather than a selling point. Why do other books present less information? Or perhaps optimistically: What is the book's secret that enables it to pack a whole introductory textbook's worth of information on TCP/IP into the first two chapters?

Brevity is the soul of wit. The book is good at being brief. For example on page 6 the book introduces internet addresses and host names with about 6 column inches of discussion including a 2 column inch figure. The book tells the anxious reader:

"Even dot numbers are difficult to remember . So the internet also defines for host names, which consist of several labels of text separated by dots. Examples are....Although all internet addresses have four decimal segments host names can have as few as two text segments.(6, Panko).

The book does not mention explicitly here that host names can also be used as addresses, but of course everyone knows that. Or do they?

Changing the subject: Information provided in chapter one about careers in networking is valuable and helpful but in my opinion somewhat misleading. Do IS graduates build integrated corporate systems unassisted by contract vendors?

I would agree that "integration is a key skill for IS networking graduates."(3, Panko).

The book has a Website with many useful materials. The author has posted power point slides including almost every figure used in the book. He has put word files up of his review questions to save students the time that would otherwise be necessary to type out those questions. He has also posted updates and corrections to the book. The book's website is very informative about the growth of the internet etc. The website is a key benefit of the book.

Nevertheless, I suggest the book itself is in need of a serious rewrite. Other books in the field appear to be less up to date, yet better from a pedagogical standpoint. I would recommend (from the same publisher Prentice Hall) Business Data Communications by William Stallings and Richard Van Slyke. This book contains less technical information than the reviewed book ; however, in my opinion its teaching style will be more appreciated by students.

If one wants a more useful approach to networking theory than either of these books , I would recommend Computer Networks by Larry Peterson or Computer Networks: An Introductory Course by Walrand. Some think the Walrand book is too brief in some areas; however, it presents a lot of useful theory that is not explained as well in Business School oriented books.

The reviewed book potentially could bridge the gap between books prepared for Computer Science departments and books prepared strictly for Business School students. Unfortunately the book misses this opportunity by not explaining or leaving out key theoretical concepts necessary to really understand what is going on in networking.

Students will learn from this bookthe buzzwords that they need to get hired as a computer support person, however, I wonder if the book will teach them what they need to know to do their job.


Not Recommended - Facts but few keys to understanding   April 2, 1999
  2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Raynond Panko's book contains many interesting facts about networking. The author's modules are presented in a well-written, entertaining, and sometimes humourous style. Unfortunately, the book shows little evidence that the author, a purported networking guru who has worked with the likes of Doug Engelbart (the inventor of the mouse), understands underlying network theory.

Consequently the Business Networking user who learns networking from this book may have problems communicating successfully with computer science department trained networking technicians.

One reason is that the book presents some non-standard definitions of well-know computer science terms such as "reliable protocol."

These "howlers" are apparent to anyone who may have slept through a networking course in the computer science department of a fifth rate junior college or taken a Cisco course in High School.

Lets look at a few examples. On page 40 we are told that Negative acknowledgements are "reliable protocol, which means that it does error correction." Retransmission of a packet is not technically error correction. Error correction would occur only when error correcting codes sent with a packet are used to reconstruct a packet that contains a bit error.

On page 7 the book seems to imply that there is a correspondance relationship between the labels of text in domain names such as voyager.cba.hawaii.edu and internet addresses such as 128.171.17.13. He informs us that "although all internet addresses have four segments host names can have as few as two text segments." Are we to infer that 128 is a code for voyager, while 171 is a code for cba? How do we get away with domain names with only two text labels? The books introductory presention of internet addresses and domain names is a red herring that will confuse neo-phytes over 30. On page 66-68 the book attempts to illuminate the advantages of Digital versus analog transmission. Once again the book mixes up two technical concepts "reliability" and "error correction." It is claimed that digital transmission is "reliable" because it regenerates ones and zeros. This is technically error correction not reliability which means retransmission of packets.

Reliability refers strictly to the retransmission of packets not received.

Regeneration is claimed to be the reason digital sound and video "usually look better than traditional radio and television signals, which are analog." This is not strictly true. An analog signal contains more information than a digital signal which is subject to quantitization errors. An analog signal without dropouts is better than a digital signal it is just difficult to record or transmit over long distances.

I applaud the book for attempting to present only the practical details of networking. Unfortunately to present networking with little of the underlying theory does not help students organize the flood of facts in any meaningful way. Further facts without theory do not form a basis for further study.

I am appalled that the renowned publisher of this book apparently failed to have its content checked by a technically qualified editor. After all this is the "second edition."

The book it seems is designed for students who want to memorize a few facts in order to pass a test. The book in my opinion is not designed for anyone who really wants to understand networking even practical "business networking" whatever that is.

I recommend business networking instructors stick with the current standard texts for business networking classes. Better yet try Walrand's computer science oriented introductory networking text. Students will remember more if they learn some underlying theory


great starter book on networking   March 17, 1999
  1 out of 3 found this review helpful

This is a great book for people who are learning networking from the ground up. Does not try to go in depth on any one subject, just covers the basics and touchs on all items from encryption to ATM and Frame Relay. And does it well. One of the better books on networking since so many are so badly written.


Good resource for beginners   October 9, 1998
  0 out of 1 found this review helpful

This book covers all the basics of data communication. It attempts to cover a broad topic by breaking it down into digestable chapters. It starts with the communication basics and elaborates somewhat on widely used standards and protocols. Although this book is certainly not the "bible" of data communications, it's depth and scope of information will give the beginner a good understanding of the topic.