Voice and Data Communications Handbook: Signature Edition (McGraw-Hill Computer Communications Series)

Telecommunications is one of the world's fastest-growing industries, absorbing many inexperienced, nontechnical personnel into a highly technical field. That's why industry veterans Regis J. "Bud" Bates and Donald Gregory offer this revised edition of the most comprehensive, up-to-date, jargon-free guide available, the Voice and Data Communications Handbook, Signature Edition. Beginning with voice communications, the book guides you through the basics of voice characteristics and processing, telephone equipment and networks, analog vs. digital transmission, lines vs. trunks, service carriers, traffic engineering. Data communications topics include the T1 and T carrier system and ISDN, the OSI model, packet switching technologies, Local Area Networks, Ethernet, and Token Ring LANs, Broadband vs. Baseband, Fiber-Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), Switched Multi-Megabit Data Services (SMDS), Cellular and PCS, Radio, Light, and Cabling Systems. You'll also find revised sections on switched and virtual LANs, Gigabit Ethernet, networked videoconferencing, and the latest on ATM, SONET, and DSL. Also included are a summary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, plus new sections on the Internet, Intranets and Extranets, computer-telephony integration, and much more.