The Essential Guide to Networking [Paperback]

Jim Keogh (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0130305480 | ISBN-13: 978-0130305480 | Publication Date: September 28, 2000 | Edition: 1

The Essential Guide to Networking is the complete briefing on networking and the Internet for every non-technical professional! In one easy, easily understood book, James Keogh explains today's hottest networking technologies and the fast-changing networking industry! It's the perfect networking guide for every business decision-maker, salesperson, marketer, PR professional, and technical writer -- and for everyone interested in how networks are transforming the world. Start by reviewing the technical fundamentals of networking, and how networks have evolved to where they are today. Next, review the elements and types of networks: components, connections, wide area links, intranets, extranets, and the Internet. Understand how network professionals attempt to maximize network reliability and security, and their key resources for troubleshooting network problems. Finally, in Part IV, Keogh offers a high-level briefing on the networking industry, its major players, and the powerful trends that are already at work shaping tomorrow's networks.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Preface

Computer technology seems to completely change every 18 months, and network technology is leading this change. Stop and think for a moment how much you depend on network technology. If you're like me, you probably have a difficult time answering that question because networking is something you don't see and most of us don't touch.

Yet if I asked you how many times you send and receive e-mails every day or how many hours a day you surf the Internet, then you probably would have no difficulty answering. E-mail and the Internet are just two ways we use networking technology every day.

Now for the million dollar question: Do you know how networks work? Take your time answering. Remember, you still have your "lifelines" available. If your answer is no, then you're reading the right book.

Most of us know little or nothing about networks unless we work closely with the technicians who maintain them for our company. However, we're forced to interact with network technology whenever the network goes down, leaving us disconnected from our files and e-mails.

A help desk technician talks network mumbo jumbo to us as he or she tries to get us back online. It's tough to admit, but even the office guru probably doesn't have a clue about what the technicians are doing. I know this for a fact because I was one of those office gurus—and that's the reason I wrote this book. I hung around with networking professionals for about a year and discovered networks interested me enough to become an expert. I'd rather be on the complaining end of a call instead of having to track down a problem in the miles of network cables and the hundreds of network devices that keep data flowing through my company.

To help you understand networks, my objective when writing this book was to make the text plain, simple, and easy to understand. As you read through this book and develop your own understanding of how networks work, I think you'll find that I met my goal.

I begin with basic school science that illustrates how an electronic signal is generated. Don't worry—I purposely left out math problems. If you can turn a light switch on and off, then you'll be fine.

After that, I lead you on a clear, straight path that takes you to local area networks and wide area networks technology and a rare look behind the scenes at the Internet. Your journey will be peppered with a few humorous stories that I picked up while I was writing this book.

The last few chapters are devoted to the business side of networking, and I take you on a tour of the movers and shakers who decide how networks operate. You'll recognize a few of the companies as those that are the pride of tech stock traders. Many are not household names, yet have a dramatic role in network and Internet technologies. I'm sure anyone who has remotely followed tech stocks will enjoy this look at the networking industry.

If you're a network technician or want to become a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, then don't read this book. Instead pick up a copy of my Core MCSE: Networking Essentials, which is a Microsoft Certified-approved study guide designed for studying for the certification tests.

If you're a nontechnical person interested in learning more about networks, then read this book. It's the best way to learn about networking without having to sift through technical stuff you don't need to know.

This book is ideal for anyone who is responsible for administrating network services for an organization and for salespeople, law firms, research organizations, marketing personnel, human resources professionals, project managers, networking managers, and high-level administrators. It will give you the knowledge you need to effectively communicate and understand networking language. And as we evolve farther into a network-centric world, the importance of such a skill is going to be increasingly more apparent and important.

From the Back Cover

• The plain-English guide to understanding how networks work—and how they're built
• Intranets, extranets, the Internet, and other IP networks
• Network reliability, security, and troubleshooting
• Next-generation wireless technologies—Bluetooth, WAP, and JINI
• Networking industry overview
• The future of networking

Your complete, no-nonsense guide to networking: the fundamentals, without the hype!

The Essential Guide to Networking is the complete briefing on networking and the Internet for every non-technical professional! In one easy-to-understand book, James Keogh explains all of today's hottest networking technologies—and helps you make sense of the fast-changing networking industry. The Essential Guide to Networking is a breath of fresh air: an intelligent, thorough, friendly, and up-to-date guide to networking for non-engineers! You'll learn all this, and more:

• The technical fundamentals and evolution of networks
• LANs and WANs: connections, media, and building blocks
• Intranets, extranets, the Internet, and other IP-based networks
• DSL, cable modems, and other high-speed Internet access alternatives
• Understanding Internet security and privacy
• Up-to-the-minute wireless coverage: Bluetooth, WAP, Jini, and more
• Options for maximizing network reliability and security
• Key resources for troubleshooting network problems
• The networking industry and its key players
• Powerful trends shaping tomorrow's networks

If you need to understand the dynamic, ever-changing world of networking and how it's revolutionizing today's high tech economy, this is your complete briefing.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 1 edition (September 28, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130305480
• ISBN-13: 978-0130305480
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #527,939 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Well Done, October 11, 2000

By 

Clark Riippa (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Networking (Paperback)

I always found computer networking mystifying in the way it can transport my words around the world in a fraction of a second. I've read a lot of books on the subject, but this is the only one I found that clearly explains this process. The book is full of networking jargon, but that shouldn't scare you because each is explained in a way anyone can understand. He uses the highway metaphor, so if you understand how cars travel the highway then you'll easily relate to how words and pictures travel on a network. I recommend this book hands down.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced overview for non-engineers, December 29, 2000

By 

Leonid (Newton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Networking (Paperback)

Keogh keeps an excellent balance between material for "complete idiots" and material for engineers. He uses simple metaphors (lots of highway traffic comparisons) to explain the "why" and "how" of networks, and anticipates reader's questions fairly well. The book is up to date, and covers just about any subject you need to be familiar with if you want to talk to engineers using their vernacular. The industry overview, covering major players, was particularly useful. There is one flaw, whose importance depends on your own reading habits: the writing style is atrocious, and it looks as if the book never went through an editor at Prentice Hall. While the conversational style makes the material easier to absorb, there is a good number of spots that would be marked in red all over if this was an English 101 paper. Still worth it, though.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Guide to Networking Review, October 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Networking (Paperback)

I am currently working in Silicon Valley and found this book to be extremely helpful for me to understand networking and communicate with my clients here in the Valley. Mr. Keogh clearly explains the fundamentals of networking so that the reader can follow the how networking works and have confidence in discussing networking with others. I look forward to reading more of Mr. Keogh's books.