Business Data Communications and Networking

This book gave me the opportunity to finally understand some concepts I was a little confused before. It is clear, with very well updated techonologies. If someone have the basic concepts and wants to accommodate and understand other techonologies or systems IP based, this is a very good book. It has some little tips to clarify how all IP/network concepts work together. The are no many books trying to explain how to design a network, either for enterprise or ISP. It issues some fundamental concepts in that sense, all from a practical point of view. If you want to go more in depth after that, try other books to complement.

It's a great introduction to networking, with details about LAN, Backbones, and WAN architectures. It is also easy to read and Understand.

This was the first networking book I bought when I was still in school. The book is good and helped me setup my first network at home. I am writing my review today even though they already moved up two more editions.

I just finished a graduate course using this book as the textbook. At first I thought "Hmmmph - another OSI Layer book." What I learned is that it is very current, going into Blue tooth, Internet II, and all the latest Wireless protocols, too. Like consider the multiple Gigabit networking architectures, including optical and copper. This is "one for the shelf" of every do it your selfer wanting to learn and it reads like a "how to" manual that you'll use. Whether you want to learn, bone up, or be the one who has all the right vocabulary at the drinking fountain - this is a book you should give a chance to. It surprised me and I manage a significant IS dept. I think you will consider it a value-added addition to your library!

Well, I must confess... I wrote my first review BEFORE reading any other reviews. Wow - after reading the others, I started thinking "I MUST HAVE BEEN READING A DIFFERENT BOOK!" Well, that is exactly the story. My review is of the 7th edition and I specifically went looking for the grammatical errors and the packet-switching complaints and all the other complaints, one-by-one. You know what? HOOEY!! All the problems others speak of in the 6th edition have been corrected and improved upon! This is a good book! I liked Mr. Nagle's review and the only negatives he mentions were mere weaknesses that have been beefed up. So, I still say this is a book that you'll find useful if you read it. If you want to peruse it, looking for tips and tricks on setting up your own network, then I say this is NOT the book for you - I'd look for the networking for dummies. (I'm not trying to be flipant, either. Those books only have the tips of the icebergs and are great for perusing - kinda like a cliff's notes.)I say you will like the improvements over whatever the 6th edition missed (or messed up).