Rating: 
Summary: Superb, Across-the-Board Reference
Review: I picked this volume up at TechEd 2001. The competition with other books in this category brought the race down to "McGraw-Hill's Encyclopedia of Networking & Telecommunications" winning by one length over the "Microsoft Encyclopedia of Networking".
Tom Sheldon provided the most well-grounded and well-rounded information to fulfill the title of an "encyclopedia of networking" compared to Mitch Tulloch's very good but more Microsofted (I think microsoft as a verb can now come into play) approach to the subject and its fields.
Sheldon's book contains a greater variety of entries and their corresponding information (i.e. terms/acronyms like "NSA" & "PKI") instead of a namebrand focused presentation. I would like to see a "Special Characters" index category like Tulloch's book has, but this is not as necessary when using the search capability of the book's CD edition (which is included and loaded with hyperlinks to outside information sources).
I highly recommend Tom Sheldon's book. It's useful, it's layout and design is easy on the eyes, and I'm glad to have it at my desk (when I'm able to return it there after tracking down who last borrowed it).
Rating:
Summary: A must have networking bible for networking students
Review: I stumbled accross the old 2nd edition in our library and a day later I was in awe of Mr Sheldons fantatistic book. Unlike most networking books their is no waffle in this one. His style of writing disects networking information into logical digestible chunks. The second edition can be downloaded from his site but I recommend you getting your hands on the latest edition if possile because it is more upto date and has lots of new additions. This book is a one stop shop for everything you need to know about networking and a priceless resource for any networking student.
Rating:
Summary: How Tom wrote the book
Review: I was the tech reviewer on the last two editions of Tom Sheldon's Encyclopedia of Networking & Telecommunications, so I got to see the process Tom used in writing the new book, and his attitude toward it. We all know networking and telecommunications is changing as fast as we can flip pages. Tom embraced the challenge of documenting the changes. For him it wasn't a matter simply of updating the previous edition; he pretty much tossed that out and started from scratch in evaluating the current state and near future of the many technologies included in the book. The material in this book isn't warmed over; it was thoroughly reconsidered.And despite the current edition's 1400-odd pages, Tom had plenty more to say but there wasn't room, so he puts additions and updates to the encyclopedia on his Linktionary site. Single-handedly pulling off this excellent book in the face of constant change in the industry was quite a feat, as far as I'm concerned. The book sits close by me, because it offers a quick and thorough refresh on hundreds of topics I encounter just often enough to forget the details. It's useful; I like that in an encyclopedia. Dan Logan, Cambria, CA
Rating:
Summary: It's a keeper.
Review: I work for an ISP in the Upstate NY area in 2nd level Internet support. I have found this book to be a very handy and comprehensive reference on Networking technologies. We are also an ILEC and I am impressed with how well this reference covers terms or acronyms that I am unfamiliar with when dealing with this side of the business. Great job Tom! Keep up the good work.
Rating:
Summary: It's a keeper.
Review: I work for an ISP in the Upstate NY area in 2nd level Internet support. I have found this book to be a very handy and comprehensive reference on Networking technologies. We are also an ILEC and I am impressed with how well this reference covers terms or acronyms that I am unfamiliar with when dealing with this side of the business. Great job Tom! Keep up the good work.
Rating:
Summary: For daily use
Review: I'm very satisfied with the book. I'm working as a solution manager (sales department) and with customers and in the area of mobile internet. The combination of telecom and network is perfect. Working with different products, always new terminology this book suites me perfect. The best is that all areas that I'm interested in are covered and the amount of "text" for each content is perfect. I also like the layout of the book that makes it easy to use. The combination of the CD-ROM and webpage is also good. Summary: I'm glad I found you book, it should have the highest raiting. Good work !!
Rating:
Summary: For daily use
Review: I'm very satisfied with the book. I'm working as account manager and with customers and in the area of mobile internet. The combination of telecom and network is perfect. The best is that all areas that I'm interested in are covered and the amount of "text" for each content is perfect. I tryed the last months to find a book that suites me and I'm really glad that I found this one. I also like the layout of the book that makes it easy to use. The combination of the CD-ROM is also good. Summary: Your book should have the highest raiting. Good work !!
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for daily use
Review: I'm very satisfied with the book. I'm working with customers and in the area of mobile internet. The combination of telecom and network is perfect. Working with different products, always new terminology this book suites me perfect. The best is that all areas that I'm interested in are covered and the amount of "text" for each content is perfect. I tryed the last months to find a book that suites me and I'm really glad that I found this one. I also like the layout of the book that makes it easy to use. The combination of the CD-ROM and webpage is also good. Good work !!
Rating:
Summary: Most Complete Book on Networking Technologies
Review: This all-encompassing book / CD-ROM are filled with thousands of explanations and analyses of core and cutting-edge networking and telecommunications topics from Abilene to QoS to ZAWS. Updated to include coverage of all the latest technologies including Cisco, Microsoft, Nortel Networks, 3COM, and more. Extensive cross-referencing throughout helps you understand the relationship among the technologies. This is a must-have resource for every network professional. The book also includes a guide to the Internet engineering documents. Detailed coverage of ASP (Application Service Provider) Bluetooth Cryptography Distributed Computer Networks Embedded Systems Hacking and Hackers InfiniBand Java Linux Load Balancing Mobile Computing NAS (Network Attached Storage) Network Processors Optical Networks Outsourcing PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) QoS (Quality of Service) SAN (Storage Area Network) Switching Fabrics Transaction Processing UNIX Webcasting XML. The CD-ROM includes complete, fully searchable version of the book with thousands of hyperlinks to related topics in the book External hyperlinks to author-selected Web sites for further information Illustrations of complex networking topics. I haven't found any other book like this and is by far the best reference I could find about networks. FinancialNeeds.com
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive reference and a good first place to start
Review: This book deserves the title of "encyclopedia". No mean task considering the vastness of the networking field. Almost any topic one may think of is covered. Although the topics are dealt with succinctly, the content is quite useful and gives enough of an overview to get started. The URLs to related organizations under each topic is very helpful to pursue the subject matter further. While there are URLs to individual papers and references under certain topic areas, the book could have had more of these. Also, the book focuses heavily on protocols and standards developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The same exposure is not there for ITU and other standards. Nevertheless, the book is definitely worth keeping as a reference. The CD-ROM that comes with the book has the entire content on it, with cross-references and hyperlinks. On the whole, I would recommend this to anyone who is active in the networking area or just curious about it.
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