Principles Digital Communication System & Computer Networks (Charles River Media Computer Engineering)

Chapter 15: Issues in Computer Networking

Chapter 16: ISO/OSI Protocol Architecture

Chapter 17: Local Area Networks

Chapter 18: Wide Area Networks and X.25 Protocols

Chapter 19: Internetworking

Chapter 20: TCP/IP Protocol Suite

Chapter 21: Internet Protocol (IP)

Chapter 22: Transport Layer Protocols—TCP and UDP

Chapter 23: Distributed Applications

Chapter 24: The Wired Internet

Chapter 25: Network Computing

Chapter 26: Signaling System No. 7

Chapter 27: Integrated Services Digital Network

Chapter 28: Frame Relay

Chapter 29: Asynchronous Transfer Mode

The twentieth century's two great gifts to humankind are the PC and the Internet. The PC has now become ubiquitous and is an integral part of the daily lives of most of us. The Internet, the network of computer networks spreading across the globe, is now making distance irrelevant. The Internet is the platform to access information that is available anywhere in the world through a click of the mouse. Unlike PSTN, the Internet is a recent phenomenon, just about three decades old. But then, during the past three decades, the field of computer networking has seen developments at a breath- taking pace.

For entities (people, computers, telephones, or any appliances) to communicate with each other, established procedures are mandatory. These established procedures or protocols, fundamental to networking, are discussed in detail in this part of the book. We will study the OSI reference model, the TCP/IP architecture, and the various protocols for distributed applications. The technologies and standards for local and wide area networks are also covered. We will study the developments in network computing and the exciting new applications using this technology such as application service provisioning, dynamic distributed systems, etc. We will also study Signaling System No. 7, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Frame Relay, and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) systems.

Computer networks are being used extensively not just for data, but for voice, fax and video communication as well. For designing any communication network, a good understanding of the protocols described in this part of the book is most important for every budding telecommunications professional. This part of the book has 15 chapters, which cover the details of the data communication protocols and representative computer networks.