BKGIGNET.RVW 931028 Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 or Tiffany Moore, Publicity 72203.642@compuserve.com John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com 1 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867-9984 800-822-6339 800-527-5210 617-944-3700 5851 Guion Road Indianapolis, IN 46254 800-447-2226 "Gigabit Networking", Partridge, 1994, 0-201-56333-9, U$46.25 craig@bbn.com craigp@world.std.com As the preface states, most improvements in computing are incremental, and only appear significant once the aggregate change brings new capabilities and applications. So it is with this book. The data communications professional may feel a vague sense of disappointment that the changes and new technologies are not as esoteric as expected. Basically, the concepts are the same as they always have been. The scaling imposed by improvements in communications and processing speeds, however, make some concepts more important, and render many current "standards" obsolete. This is amply demonstrated in chapter two with an illustration of trying to run Ethernet over high speed fiber, and finding that the minimum packet size is a substantial portion of the size of this review. Chapter two is possibly the most interesting for computing professionals covering as it does the what, why and how of fiber optics and high speed (or, rather, high bandwidth) communications. There is a terse but generally clear explanation of multi-mode and single-mode fiber. Partridge does not deal with variable index fiber, considering it to be a special case of the attempt to deal with dispersion in multi-mode. The "gigabit" networking of the title encompasses a host of advances in the speed of communications, networking and processing. These are the latest "hot" technologies, and a glance over section headings will find the latest in buzz- words, phrases and acronyms. Most, such as SONET, ATM and FDDI, are of the type that everyone recognizes, but almost nobody "knows". If you are suddenly called upon to work in these areas, this book is a very valuable introduction. First it defines and explains the various protocols and technologies (while giving useful technical details). Secondly, it provides directions for further readings in all the various areas. (A welcome change from many such works is the fact that not only the individual sections, but also the full bibliography is briefly annotated. As well, an effort has been made to ensure that books listed are available. The very costly CCITT standards references, in particular, seem to be studiously avoided.) Thirdly, the work provides a context and perspective for the various improvements. As it notes, a mismatch in communications speed versus processing power means that one or the other will be wasted. An initial look at some of the pages of mathematics may scare off non-technical readers. This would be a shame. While the book is undoubtedly technical, it is also eminently practical. Most sections, if read carefully, are accessible by the intelligent reader with limited background. As noted above, this work deals with some of the most sought-after technologies under development. Non- technical managers and CEO's would do well to gain the background and perspectives that this book provides *before* making costly decisions. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKGIGNET.RVW 931028 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" (Oct. '94) Springer-Verlag