William Stallings
HIGH-SPEED NETWORKS AND INTERNETS:
Performance and Quality of Services, 2/e
Hardcover, pp. 715, plus XVII, $ 73,99
Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
ISBN 0-13-032221-0
http://www.pearsoneduc.com

In general about the book

The interconnection of computers into networks has had a profound effect on the way we conduct our every day life. Modern computer communication technology gives users ability to access huge amounts of information from all over the world, the ability to share resources, processing, and materials, and the ability to communicate with other users. Today's needs in networking include requirements for increased bandwidth, guaranteed quality of service, support for multimedia streams, and the need to continue to support traditional telephony. Within a short period of time the Internet has grown and affected society. The rapid growth of Internet has created enormous interest in computer networks.

The book covers the topic of how to create high- speed networks, explain them and analyze the technical principles important for their use and evolution. Its current structure puts the emphasis on design issues of high-speed TCP/IP and ATM networks. This edition of the book is organized into seven parts and 21 chapters. In addition, the book includes two appendices, a Glossary, a list of frequently used acronyms, an Index, and a bibliography.

Chapter content

Part I, entitled Background, contains three chapters. It deals with the fundamental concepts of computer-communications protocols. Chapter 1 is introductory. It starts with a brief history for IP-based internets and ATM networks, after that discusses some of the driving factors that create high-speed networks with quality-of-service guarantees, and continues with types of services provided by IP-based internets and ATM networks. Chapter 2 concentrates on a layered protocol architecture and examines the most important such architecture, the TCP/IP protocol suite. Chapter 3 gives more details concerning TCP and IP.

Part II, entitled High-Speed Networks, contains three chapters. It concentrates on some of the underlying high-speed network topologies. Chapter 4 explains the characteristics of data transfer protocol, and call protocol for frame relay as a more efficient means of supporting packet switching techniques. Chapter 5 gives an overview of ATM including protocol architecture, logical connections and cell structure, and concludes discussion with ATM Adaptation Layer. Chapter 6 is devoted to high-speed LANs, and discusses Ethernet technology and the various options currently available, such as Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and High- Speed Wireless LANs.

Part III, entitled Performance Modeling and Estimation, contains three chapters. Here the author involves the reader with the concept how to understand and characterize the parameters related to data traffic flow such as throughput- and delay-characteristics. Chapter 7 describes some elementary concepts from probability theory and random variables, and involves stochastic processes. Chapter 8 provides a practical guide to queuing analysis. In Chapter 9 different techniques for modeling self-simulator traffic and estimating key parameters are discussed.

Part IV, entitled Congestion and Traffic Management, contains four chapters. The problem, how to achieve greater performance out of high-speed network is in focus here. Various techniques for controlling congestion are discussed in Chapter 10. Chapter 11 starts with a brief overview of the concepts of flow and error control, next the basic mechanisms used in virtually all link-level protocols are discussed, and conclude with presentation some of the performance issues related to the use of ARQ techniques. Chapter 12 examines performance implications of TCP. Chapter 13 focuses on traffic management and congestion control in ATM networks.

Part V, entitled Internet Routing, contains three chapters. It deals with routing function and routing protocol that supports that function. Some concepts from graph theory that are useful in the design of networks in the development of routing algorithms are considered in Chapter 14. Basic principles of internet routing, including consideration of routing in high-speed internets are discussed in Chapter 15. Chapter 16 continues the study of routing principles.

Part VI, entitled Quality of Service in IP Networks, contains two chapters. Different techniques needed to provide quality of service within an IP based network are discussed. Several sensible and effective methods for managing the traffic and controlling are considered in Chapter 17. Chapter 18 deals with some key protocols that support the provision of quality of service on the Internet.

Part VII, entitled Compression, contains three chapters. It covers both lossles and lossy compression techniques. An overview of relevant concepts from information theory is given in Chapter 19. Chapter 20 discusses some of the most widely used lossless compression techniques, such as run-length encoding facsimile compression techniques, and others. Finally in Chapter 21 lossy compression techniques, such as wavelet, JPEG and MPEG, are considered.

Each chapter includes problems, suggestions for further reading, and pointers to relevant Web sites.

Useful book for senior level undergraduate or first-year graduate course or active researchers

Generally speaking, this book is well written, easy to read, and well organized. Many new exciting research areas and topics are covered. It is given an adequate presentation of high-speed data-transfer communication networks. The author covers the fundamentals as well as advanced applications, and also does a good job in keeping the book's scope focused. The first six chapters of this book, as well as chapters 7, 14 and 19 can be used for a senior level undergraduate or first- year graduate course. The remainder chapters are useful for a more advanced course dealing with high-speed data transfer networks. The book also serves as a reference for professional engineers and active researchers in this field. This is a must-read book for people who like to acquire a basic understanding of the rationale, the structure, and the future implications of high-speed data transfer networks. Having in mind all mentioned above, I strongly recommend this book for all readers interested in high-speed networks and internets.