By John Enck and Dan W. Blacharski
Macmillan Computer Publishing
Lot has happened in the computer world since John Enck wrote the first edition of this book in 1990. The Internet has become wildly popular, which has led to the suprem-acy of TCP/IP; the mainframe is being slowly replaced (or at least augmented) by a distributed, client/server architecture; and high-speed technologies, such as ATM and FDDI, have significantly enhanced the very nature of networking.
John had three goals in writing this book:
- To introduce and define the fundamental network architectures of four key computer manufacturers. This information gives executive management a sufficient understanding of the basics for making informed, intelligent decisions about networks and networking strategies.
- To help technical management and systems personnel begin the cross-training process. By covering each vendor's systems and networking architectures using the same orientation and organization, this book gives you a common level of understanding and facilitates this horizontal training.
- To explore standards and technologies that greatly affect the world of multivendor networking and data communications. Many of these developments result from third-party efforts and serve to define a middle ground on which to build multivendor solutions.
In this edition, I have endeavored to supplant Mr. Enck's comprehensive work with information on some of the latest technologies and to cover some of the changes that have taken place in the networking industry during the past six years.........