Optical Networking Crash Course [Paperback]

Steven Shepard (Author)

Book Description

Series: McGraw-Hill Telecommunications | Publication Date: February 20, 2001

Author Steven Shepard's text explains what's what, who's who and how it all works together in the speed-of-light world of optical networking. Covering everything from technologies and equipment to companies and competitors, he delves into business strategies, future applications, and convergance opportunities.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

power to evaluate technologies, companies, equipment, trends

Bursting with promise as a potential solution to skyrocketing Internet traffic, optical networking is the buzz of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. But if you need to penetrate deeper than excitement and speculation--if you want to put insight, experience, and an insider's grasp behind your business and personal investment decisions--you've come to the right place. Steve Shepard's lucid, probing, and well-conceived Optical Networking Demystified is the Rosetta Stone that decodes the mysteries. It shows you what's what, who's who, and how it all works together in the speed-of-light world of optical networking, from technologies and equipment to companies and competitors.

This book is a must-read if--
*You're at the nexus where fast-moving technological innovation and split-second business decision-making collide
*You manage or develop in telecom, Internet service, networking, or the upper echelons of any business
*You're an investor with an eye on Lucent, Nortel, JDSU, Cisco, Ciena, Agilent, or other optical equipment makers, service providers, or applications creators
*You need to compare optical and other strategies such as cable, DSL, and LMDS
*You appreciate understandable explanations of optical technology means, methods, potentials, and constraints
*You heard that DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) is going to change everything (and you want to know what it is and why it will)
*You need straight answers on optical transport issues, routing, and switching
*The words lithium niobate modulators and four-wave mixing make your pulse quicken
*You require details on the entire networking field--technologies, markets, and trends
*You're a curious Netizen in search of insider details on the hottest new technology in communications

For a handle on the only technologically feasible way to quickly increase networking capacity by orders of magnitude, Sam Shepard's book is essential. Optical Networking Demystified is a ticket to ride the light wave--and not get burnt.

THE INSIDE DOPE ON--

*Bandwidth Barons
*Fiber Makers
*Component Makers
*Ranked Solutions/Applications
*Equipment Makers
*Five Nines
*Security
*Signal Sinks
*Backhoe Fade
*Add-Drop Mux
*How It All Fits Together

About the Author

Steven Shepard (Williston, VT) is a professional writer and educator specializing in international telecommunications. Formerly with Hill Associates, he is the author of Telecommunications Convergence.

Product Details

• Paperback: 269 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional; 1st edition (February 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071372083
• ISBN-13: 978-0071372084
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #944,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Optical networking, the big picture. Excellent!, March 31, 2001

By 

Kenneth Sato (San Ramon, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Optical Networking Crash Course (Paperback)

Do your network clients need more bandwidth? Do your usage projections say that you need to get off of the copper backbone and start thinking of laying glass? Need to get a handle on optical networking, it's technology, the marketplace and the vendors?

Too much info, too little time? Are you an engineering student wondering if you should take that class on fiber optics and want to read a good primer? Or maybe you are a CTO, CIO, network manager, IT manager, network consultant, or anyone that has a need to know about optical networking and need to come up to speed quickly? Then, this is the optical networking book for you.

Years ago, the first book about fiber I picked up was a scholarly tome filled with logarithmic diagrams, hard to read engineering drawings shrunk to book format and so many formulae and calculus equations I had to put it back into the stack for a time when I couldn't sleep. I wasn't going to engineer the network, I just needed a general idea of what I was working with, we had specialists that actually dealt with the details. This is the book I needed then and today I am better in tune with what's going on in the networking industry.

The book is nicely partitioned into four sections: 1) The Optical Networking Marketplace, 2) From Copper To Glass, 3) Corollary Technologies and 4) Solutions and Applications. It covers some historical details that gives you a feel for why and how the networking marketplace has changed just within the past ten years. The highly technical detail is clearly and simply explained with easy to understand (and read) drawings and diagrams. You are not overloaded with acronyms, just what you need to know and if you have any doubt, there's a list of acronyms, a bibliography, a glossary and an index in the back.

A really nice touch that I appreciate about this book is the use of a few real life photos, so we don't forget that the technology doesn't all take place on a written page. There's one photo of men hauling a floated fiber cable from an offshore cabling ship onto land for termination. Another is a "drawing tower" where fiber is stretched/drawn.

You might say, this is a scholarly text cleverly hidden inside a humorous, easy to read book. In addition, besides the Internet itself, this book is a very current assessment of the market and vendors in the fiber, optical component and services areas of this critical industry.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview of the optical comms industry and marketplace, July 5, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Optical Networking Crash Course (Paperback)

In summary, this book is a brief, handy guide for those who need to know about the optical comms industry in a hurry. It can be divided into 4 sections of approximately equal length: market forces and evolution of the industry, overview of the technology, market players and applications, and the reference section (including the index). I was impressed by the extensive coverage in the third section, and the author's ability to impart a concise, intuitive understanding of technical concepts (to a non-technical audience) in the second is credible. The reference section, though not exhaustive, is a helpful starting point for those who wish to delve deeper. It is too bad that charts were not included in the third section as these would have been helpful for comparison of the various companies listed.
A pet peeve of mine is the assumption, cited in the first few pages, of the driving force of the frenetic thirst for bandwidth; while an ever-increasing demand is undisputed, whether this is at an exponential rate is still in contention, despite this point being bandied about frequently by so-called technology advocates.
Those who found the author's last book on convergence trends in the comms sector helpful will not want to miss this. In my opinion, this one is an improvement in many aspects.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable, August 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Optical Networking Crash Course (Paperback)

This is the most useful tech book I've bought all year. For some reason publishers almost never publish books like this, but it actually does take apart optical networking and explain how things work for an intelligent non-engineer. The organization makes sense and the writing is clear and literate, and even funny, sometimes. If you've got a doctorate you probably don't need this, but for the rest of us its invaluable.