Book Review:

Ethernet: the Definitive Guide - by:Charles E. Spurgeon-

O'Reilly Press - ISBN: 1-56592-660-9 US: $44.95 - copyright 2000

If you are doing networking, on a LAN - any kind of LAN networking - then you owe it to yourself to get and read this book. It does more to both dispell the myths about ethernet (like it can do no more than 37% of it's published capacity), as well as "collisions are bad" (they aren't - they are merely the 'normal' way that ethernet is designed. as well as bring-you-up-to-date on the more modern incarnations of the Ethernet standard, like 100-base-T, 1000-base-TX, and the differences and similarities of all them. it is also a wonderful document to have at your side when you both cable/wire a new site/building/floor, as well as to refer to when doing those esoteric things like making cross-over cables which are a required part of almost every computer-room / hub-wiring environment, and which, somehow, we never seem to have enough of...

It will also help you to verify for management that the whole bill for wiring your new building is worth it if the people who make the 'in-the-field' fibre-optic-cable terminations are 'worth their weight in GOLD, because it's their skill, attention to detail and dedication that may well be the key hinge upon which the successful long-term operation of your LAN depends. -

book review by: Bill Schell - 2 November 2000