An Engineering Approach to Computer Networking: ATM Networks, the Internet, and the Telephone Network

Suitable for students, working network engineers, and (to some degree) salespeople responsible for promoting network services, An Engineering Approach to Computer Networking: ATM Networks, the Internet, and the Telephone Network explains how voice and data networks operate. Author Srinivsan Keshav does a great job of explaining how various systems--especially Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, Internet Protocol (IP) networks, and switched voice networks--communicate signals from one point to another. He notes similarities and differences among the systems' approaches to the problem of telecommunications and highlights the challenges inherent in integrating them. If you're involved in building a large network, particularly if you'll be laying your own cable over long distances--you'll appreciate the design advice this book provides.

An Engineering Approach to Computer Networking takes an academic approach to its topic--the author based this book on lectures he gave at several universities, after all. You can fault his writing style for its dryness, but not for lack of detail or breadth of coverage. He deserves particular praise for his explanation of the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model, complete with an intelligent analogy between a letter delivered by a postal service and a packet traveling over a network. --David Wall

Topics covered: Fundamentals of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IPv4 and IPv6), and telephone networks. Multiplexing, collision management, queuing, switching and routing under ATM, IP, and switched voice.