BKVDCHBK.RVW   980108

"Voice and Data Communications Handbook", Regis J. "Bud" Bates/Donald
Gregory, 1998, 0-07-006396-6, U$65.00
%A   Regis J. "Bud" Bates bud@tcic.com
%A   Donald Gregory
%C   300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario   L1N 9B6
%D   1998
%G   0-07-006396-6
%I   McGraw-Hill Ryerson/Osborne
%O   U$65.00 905-430-5000 +1-800-565-5758 fax: 905-430-5020
%P   902 p.
%T   "Voice and Data Communications Handbook"

One could be forgiven for thinking that a handbook, as the name
implies, should fit in the hand.  This book is more akin to those
Bibles that are more or less permanently affixed to lecterns.  On the
other hand (there's that word again), many ready reference works, as
they age and mature, do tend to enlarge, so it has plenty of company
in that regard.  However, this book isn't quite that type of
reference.

What it is, is an overview and introduction to pretty much any aspect
of voice or data communications.  For the non-technical, or non-
specialist, manager, the text provides a quick, readable, and
reasonable "first take" on the myriad communications technologies,
from your telephone set, to PCS (Personal Communications Systems). 
While the approach is light, and even frivolous at times, the material
is reliable, and never forsakes accuracy for the sake of a simplistic
answer.  (Bates also has a slightly different approach, but the same
ironic take on telephone company "service" that I do in respect of the
"tone dial" offering.)


Chapter one is a history of the American telephone industry from the
invention of the telephone until 1984.  The characteristics of sound,
and the means for sharing bandwidth, are well explained in chapter
two.  Chapter three describes a simplified, user-level view of the
telephone network, without geting involved in technical details.  The
telephone set, itself, and basic functions are covered in chapter
four.  The discussion of analogue and digital information in chapter
five perhaps goes too far in trying to keep the explanation simple,
and may not fully express the advantages of digital information
encoding.  Chapter six talks about the various types of telephone
carriers.  While this information is presented generically, it may be
primarily useful to those in the US.  The difference between lines and
trunks is important to the economics of telecommunications, and is
dealt with in chapter seven.  Chapter eight uses information from most
of the preceeding text to look at traffic engineering.  Having done an
analysis of traffic needs, the user can determine equipment
requirements with help from chapter nine.  Chapter ten supplements the
material with extra detail on key systems, while chapter eleven
enhances it with a discussion of voice processing.  A new chapter in
this edition looks at computer-telephony integration.

Data communications concepts and basics are overviewed in chapter
thirteen, which covers a lot of ground rapidly by relying on concepts
already explained.  Voice and data are melded in the T-carrier system
thoroughly explained.  Chapter fifteen explains the need for, and
higher layers of, the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model of
networking, but may nto do as well in illustrating the basic levels. 
The new chapters on the Internet, and intranets, may be a little out
of place coming before packet switching, which is covered very well. 
A chapter introduces the basics of local area networking, while the
two major media access methods, ethernet and token ring, are covered
separately.  The pros and cons of baseband and broadband are well
defined.  Fiber-distributed data interface (FDDI), switched multi-
megabit data services (SMDS), and frame relay have enough to base
decisions on, but may leave some wondering why or if this might be
important to them.  The explanation of ISDN (Integrated Services
Digital Network) is considerably better.  The chapter on ATM
(Asynchronous Transfer Method) is mixed, with some good tutorial, and
other references that rely on concepts not well explained previously.

Cellular and PCS (Personal Communications Systems) get a good review,
but do have a North American bias.  Radio discusses satellite and
microwave transmissions.  Light based systems are seen as simply
another form of microwave (which they are).

The last few chapters seem to have been somewhat misplaced.  Two
specific applications, video conferencing and facsimile transmission
are separated by the dicussion of financing, which legitmately stands
alone.  Cabling, in chapter thirty one, might more properly belong
with earlier discussions of media.

Real techies will not find much for them in this book, although they
won't find much to fault, either.  On the other hand, for someone
moving into a new field, or needing just a quick introduction to a
given technology; enough to use for discussion; this is just the
ticket.  The material provided is pretty consistently aimed at a non-
technical management level.  The contents would be very useful for the
non-specialist to use in order to come up to speed on basics needed
for discussions regarding a telecommunications project.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKVDCHBK.RVW   980108