Telecom/1996-04-telecom-walnutcreek.iso/book.reviews/open.system.network

Text File | 1995-01-02 | 3.8 KB | 85 lines

Date: 13 Nov 93 10:11 -0600
From: Rob Slade <[e-mail]>
Subject: Book Review: "Open Systems networking" by Piscitello/Chapin


BKOPSYNT.RVW  931013

Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
P.O. Box 520   26 Prince Andrew Place
Don Mills, Ontario    M3C 2T8
416-447-5101  fax: [phone]
or
Tiffany Moore, Publicity  [e-mail]
John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing [e-mail]
1 Jacob Way
Reading, MA   01867-9984
800-527-5210  617-944-3700
5851 Guion Road
Indianapolis, IN   46254
800-447-2226
"Open Systems Networking", Piscitello/Chapin, 1993
[e-mail] [e-mail]

Open systems and networking are two of the current "big issues" in
computing and information systems planning, even if few can tell you
what they actually are.  Every proprietary system is "open," and every
company making even the most peripheral component is committed to
"networking".  OSI and TCP/IP are recognizably two of the major
"players' in this game, although their positions may not be clear.
This state of affairs is not made any better by the many rumours and
myths: TCP/IP is an academic toy; TCP/IP is an *example* of OSI;
buying OSI compliant products will guarantee inter-operability; TCP/IP
now has the commercial "high ground" and it is now *OSI* that is the
academic toy.  This book is both a conceptual introduction to open
systems networking, and a detailed comparison of the structures of
TCP/IP and OSI.

That said, it is still easier, as with Usenet, to define what it is
not, than what it is.

This is not a technical manual.  Technical detail there is, and
competent, too.  This is not, however, a reprinting of the standards,
although it is a good guide to and through them.  While the work gives
a good background for programming and implementation, one suspects it
is more for the manager than the programmer.

When one is examining technical books, the mere sight of a "series"
cover sets off alarms.  Series books tend to be textbooks, or boring,
or both.  This book is not boring.  The writing style is lively, with
the best (or most outrageous) parts set off by ".AHA." boxes and
italic text.  The anecdotes and background will be of interest to
anyone in the communications or networking field.

The preface is decidedly odd, and chapter one seems to be the preface.
Chapter two is a quick overview of both the OSI and Internet
structures.  Part two, chapters three to five, is entitled, "Open
Network Architecture": it covers the concepts and vocabulary of open
systems, and compares the terms of the two structures.  Part three
deals with the way the "upper layers" and common applications are
handled, while part four covers the lower layers.  Finally, part five
makes, in a number of different ways, the point that the choice does
not have to be TCP/IP or OSI -- the two systems can be complementary.

The references section contains many valuable listings.  An annotated
bibliography would have been helpful.  In a sense there is one --
distributed throughout the book.  It would have been handy to have
collected some of this into a single section.

This work provides a unique perspective, and some very important
information.  It belongs on every MIS shelf.  It also belongs in every
college and university library where any type of data communications
and networking courses are taught.  It should also come in very handy
for every development project where there is a question as to why TCP
is being used rather than OSI ... or vice versa ...


copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993   BKOPSYNT.RVW  931013
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups.

DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer [e-mail], [e-mail], Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: [e-mail]