Books for/about - telecoms

Newton's Telecom Dictionary: 22nd Edition (Newton's Telecom Dictionary) (Newton's Telecom Dictionary)

Publisher: CMP Books
Authors: Harry Newton

ISBN: 1578203198
List Price: $36.95
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Summary: Published Every Year Just to Attempt to Keep Up.
When Judge Green ordered the split up of AT&T so many years ago he couldn't have imagined what he was really unleashing on an unsuspecting world. The whole concept of the Internet, packet switching, Voice Over Internet Protocol and more. Dozens of companies rising and falling depending on the tides of the marketplace.

He also couldn't have imagined the impact on the language. I don't know how many TLA's (Three Letter Acronyms) ; There's BEP's (Back End Processor), and BER's (Bit Error Rate). To be sure, computers seem to always use TLA's, Telcom's seem also to like to use four letters: CORE (Council of REgistors), DVAC (Dedicated Voltage AC).

Whatever they are saying and writing, it's defined here. This is the standard dictionary of the field, published every year in an attempt to keep up with the growing jargon.

Summary: Gets Better with Age (& Editions!)
I've been buying Netwon's Telecom Dictionary since it first came out many years ago. This reference text is the gold standard for professionals in the Voice and Data industries. If you work in IT or telephony, I srongly recommend you keep an up to date copy close at hand.

Whenever I can, I try to give copies of Newton's Telecom Dictionary away to students in my TrainingCity.com classes. All of them tell me it's the best part of attending my class!

In reviewing the latest edition, I found numerous new definitions and all sorts of outstanding updates to older items. Once again, you simply cannot go wrong buying this book!

Summary: use a search engine instead of this book?
This is one of the standard reference texts in telecom. A massive explanation of virtually any term you are likely to encounter in the field. It is a dictionary, not an encyclopedia, so it does not go into any term in any depth.

The book has a piquant attraction. Open a page at random and glance through it. Often there are hilarious words and explanations of these. Revealing a droll wit.

But aside from that, these days you might prefer to use a search engine for look up quick meanings.

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Who Controls the Internet?: Illusions of a Borderless World

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Authors: Jack Goldsmith Tim Wu

ISBN: 0195152662
List Price: $28.00
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Summary: a must-read for people interested in Internet law
This book lucidly debunks the notion that the Internet inherently possesses territorial independence or extra-legality, mostly by clearly laying out various ways that governments can (and do) enact enforceable restrictions upon Internet content and behavior. Recommended.

Summary: Why the bordered Internet is necessary
"Who Controls the Internet?" by Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu offers a clear-eyed assessment of the struggle to control the Internet. Starting with a discussion of the early vision of a borderless global community, the authors present some of the most prominent individuals, ideas and movements that have played key roles in developing the Internet as we know it today. As Law Professors at Harvard and Columbia, respectively, Mr. Goldsmith and Mr. Wu adroitly assert the important role of government in maintaining Internet law and order while skillfully debunking the claims of techno-utopianism that have been espoused by popular but misinformed theorists such as Thomas Friedman.

The book has three sections. Part One is "The Internet Revolution". The authors discuss the early days of the Internet through the 1990s, when Julian Dibbell and John Perry Barlow articulated a libertarian vision that gained wide currency in the public imagination. The Electronic Frontier Foundation worked to protect the Internet from regulation in the belief that a free online community might unite people and melt government away. However, Jon Postel's attempt to assert control over the root naming and numbering system in 1998 was short-lived, as the U.S. government flexed its power in order to protect its national defense and business interests.

Part Two is "Government Strikes Back". Users in different places with widely varying cultures and preferences want information presented in their local language and context, the authors explain. Governments use a number of techniques to pressure or control local intermediaries to restrict Internet content that a majority of its citizens find unacceptable, such as the sale of Nazi paraphenelia in France. Of course, bad government begets bad policy: the authors tell us how China uses its powers of censorship to block dissent and publishes propaganda that cultivates a virulent form of nationalism. Yet, the authors illustrate how good government can work by showing how the contest in the U.S. between the RIAA and Kazaa ultimately enabled Apple's iTunes to emerge as a legally acceptable service that balances copyright laws and the public's preference for using the Internet to source and download music.

Part Three is "Vice, Virtues, the Future". The authors present an interesting case study about eBay and its founder's idealistic faith in the inherent goodness of the Internet community; we learn that when the company found its business model severely challenged by fraud, a resolution to the crisis was made workable with the assistance of local law enforcement. According to the authors, eBay, the case of an Australian libel lawsuit against a U.S. publisher, and Microsoft's acquiesence to European Union (EU) regulation of its Passport service are examples of how the bordered Internet seeks to protect citizens from harm. They argue convincingly that as a communications medium, the Internet is not unlike other technologies that have come before and therefore the Internet is not likely to displace territorial government. Rather, it is more likely, the authors speculate, that cultural and political differences may be leading us into a technological Cold War where the U.S., EU and China develop their own competitive Internet platforms.

The author's reasoning that issues of Internet law might be handled in the same manner as environmental laws at the international level brings to mind an argument made by Robyn Eckersley in her excellent book, "The Green State" where the pivotal role of the state in preserving the natural environment is asserted. While these two books might appear to be unfashionable to some by their emphasis on the state, in my opinion it appears that the facts on the ground support these authors when they suggest that government serves as the most amenable and accessible mechanism for expressing the popular will of the people, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future.

I strongly recommend this engaging, intelligent and visionary book to everyone.

Summary: BORDER IS NOTHING WITHOUT CONTROL
This well-written, smooth-flowing text has the capacity of keeping even the laziest reader reading without pause. Please, note that its essence does not include IT technologies like HTML, CSS, JAVA, and so on. Rather, the business of this book is based entirely on attempts (by both individuals and organisations) to bring sanity to the 'world-wild-net'!
Each argument seemed logical regardless of which side it is inclined to. At the moment, signs of change could be seen at the online horizon; yet, it may still take years (if not decades) for the holes to be completely plugged and monitored. But until when the future arrives, the Internet will remain a borderless world occupied by a flock of fly-free birds, many of which will continue to evade caging.
The chapters of this book did a good job in determining and weighing the pros and cons of effecting Internet controls. And, the most gruesome aspect is that the world wide web runs the risk of being balkanized into 'territorial waters'. And judging by Google's experience in China, this sort of control would cause professionalism to be compromised with the view of gaining market-shares.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that some measure of Internet sanity would be nice. However, absolute or high-handed governmental controls may serve to rob the Net of its flavors. Traditional online businesses would be the biggest gainer if this ever happens, whereas the biggest losers would include internet entertainment and leisure-oriented industries.
Most of the issues raised in this book are real-world. They constitute very good guiding principles. But as the Internet continues to grow and evolve, the validity of these principles may not be all that future-proof. Only time will tell. But until then, border will continue to mean nothing when control is non-existent.

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	The Qualcomm Equation: How a Fledgling Telecom Company Forged a New Path to Big Profits and Market Publisher: American Management Association Authors: Dave Mock
ISBN: 0814408184 List Price: $25.00 Amazon Price: $15.75 Usually ships in 4 to 6 weeks Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 4 Reviews: Summary: Story of how the Telecom Industry was Revolutionized Dave Mock did an excellent job of giving a good, accurate telling story of how a small start-up company in San Diego revolutionized the telecom industry. The book does not talk so much about the company, the technology, or the business model that made it successful, but rather describes in more narrative manner of the story behind the scenes, its history dating back from decades ago. The book describes in details the numerous technical and business challenges that Qualcomm encountered during the early stages of the endeavor and how the company managed to overcome these obstacles. Although Qualcomm's story is about how CDMA came about, the book is suitable for both the technical and non-technical audiences as it circumspect more about the entrepreneurship side and what made it work for a group of renowned academic individuals in becoming businessmen. The book is suitable for readers in the wireless industry as well as entrepreneurs trying to look for key ingredients in starting a successful company. Summary: An important work on IS-95 In The Qualcomm Equation Dave Mock does an excellent job of reporting the company's technological and financial history. The first half of the book,"The Radical Technology Solution", interweaves different story lines as well as Brooks did when he presented AT&T's complicated history in Telephone. Mock handles well the difficult job of keeping a cogent narrative flowing while discussing different elements: the founders, their funding, the competition, and the technology itself. As with Brooks, Mock is not an employee of the company he writes about, nor is this a corporate sponsored biography. Still, having been granted special access to Qualcomm people and papers, he seems at times too favorable to Qualcomm, jeopardizing the validity of conclusions he draws. Never-the-less, the factual reporting he presents is quite strong; there is information here on CDMA development in mobile telephony not found anywhere else. Part Two: The Intellectual Property Business, explores how IP promotion and control helped Qualcomm become a worldwide company. It's fascinating, to a degree, but I am a technology historian, not a business manager. I feel unable to comment on Part Two's validity but it is obviously well researched. Gripes? A bizarre Foreword from George Gilder. You'll see :-) And a one-sided approach to covering Qualcomm which is perhaps a structural problem; this book wasn't meant to be a comparative history or to tell the story of another company. Q's decision to withhold payment to Korea's ETRI, later overturned in arbitration to the cost of $80 million, for example, could be viewed as a smart decision by Q to save their stockholders money, or a robber-baron like action intent on defrauding a group that had a legitimate right to be paid. A reader of this book can't tell because we don't have ETRI's position. Nor Qualcomm's legal department. The success of Qualcomm may indeed be based on all the positive things Mock tells us, but it also could be founded, in part, on aggressive lawyers and a bankroll big enough to buy out or shut down competition when threatened. Positives? An excellent index. Nice, bright paper. A good bibliography and a detailed time-line. 231 pages of good information. Most important, the arrival of Dave Mock as a first class technology historian. While the history of TDMA based GSM and IS-54/IS-136 is documented in hardcopy and on the web, CDMA based IS-95 has not been covered well until now. This book should be considered an essential title for anyone working in or investigating cellular radio. Summary: If you want to know how Qualcomm became Qualcomm, this is it Qualcomm is the Microsoft of the telecoms industry, for better and for worse. You either love the company or you hate the company; I'm leaning toward the latter, so please keep this in mind. First, you have to give the company credit for getting to where it is today. Dave Mock does an excellent and meticulous job of documenting Qualcomm's against-all-odds rise to the top of the telecoms industry. I did not realize the degree to which Qualcomm relied on government business in the early days and also did not realize just how close the company came to missing the cellular boat completely. Back when Europe set in place one standard and many in the US wanted to follow suit, Qualcomm stuck to its guns. And I think that the US is better off for it. By and large, the mixed-standards "mess" that we have in the US has turned out to be a pretty good thing. Because of competing standards, we have EV-DO, which is a much-faster technology than single-standard Europe has to offer. Competing technologies keeps everyone on their toes, and Qualcomm has certainly kept the GPRS vendors on their toes. Dave Mock does a great job of documenting this drama and making sense of the very complex technical standards and jargon. Mock is perhaps too kind to Qualcomm, particularly in the latter years, as the vendor transforms from David to Goliath. For example, the company has been in an all-out war with Wi-Fi and WiMAX over the past three years, and it is only recently that we now see the company starting to co-opt some of the same technology underlying WiMAX. Qualcomm recently ditched its much-hyped EVDV technology when it became brutally apparent that carriers want IP and big pipes, something WiMAX was designed to address from the ground up. I find Qualcomm to be a little lost these days, as if it is searching for another big bully to take on again; the trouble is, Qualcomm is now the big bully and it's taking on the types of innovators that it once was. That said, anyone in the telecoms industry who wants to know how Qualcomm got to be Qualcomm should read this book. Summary:

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Network Processors : Architectures, Protocols and Platforms (Telecom Engineering)

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
Authors: Panos C. Lekkas

ISBN: 0071409866
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Summary: Extremely helpful!
Knowing traditional CPU architectures and their limitations and being confronted with the need to understand how one can tackle numerous network communication protocols in real time under gigabits per seconds data rates, I picked up this book as the only one (to my knowledge) available, which did not seem devoted to esoteric & narrow research of issues. It seemed like a book, which would explain to me the whole landscape of what is needed to make fast equipment work, in other words the big picture. I was completely and positively astounded at the sheer breadth and depth of information that this book conveys. Maybe a better title should be "network processing chips" as it discusses much more than network processors and rigthfully so. The book covers all the necessary components one needs to put together next to a network processor as a big jigsaw puzzle in order to build a powerful working system, e.g. things like switch fabrics, traffic managers, content addressable memory, security coprocessors, etc. The style is flowing and engaging and the structure is very modular so one can go back and forth delving into one's areas of interest. The book can be read either from cover to cover or as a reference. Its binding makes the book even more of a pleasure to use. One must of course be able to understand some basics in order to be able to grasp the content as it may not be "bedtime" reading for some readers; it is fair however to say that after reading it one should have an infinitely better appreciation of how fast routers, wireless switches, etc. have to be logically structured and designed in order to be able to handle all of the quality-of-service-sensitive multimedia traffic they are more and more seeing. A couple of the many companies whose innovative platforms are discussed, have been either acquired or gone out of business for lack of funds during the last couple of years, something not surprising as the market for network processing chips is growing while still getting consolidated. The technology fundamentals however are crystal clear and unalterable. The overall subject is truly vast and each chapter could very well be a book by itself. Nevertheless in my opinion, the author did an excellent job in capturing the overall landscape and in laying out the fundamentals in a fresh way that not only is not intimidating but also makes sense especially for a newcomer. From here one can expand into any direction one wants while being fluent with the terms used in this field. If you want to understand this new area of advanced networking hardware and architecture internals and maybe catch your networking vendor's salesforce a bit off guard, you have simply got to buy this book.

Summary: Plenty of useful details, but could be clearer and focused
I read 'Network Processors' to learn more about this relatively new technology that is changing the way network security appliances are designed and deployed. Panos Lekkas' work seemed like the only book available that presented a broad, multi-vendor sweep of the network processor landscape. While the book has plenty of information to offer, I found it did not really live up to my expectations.

Network processors are specialized computing chips built for high performance packet processing applications. I hoped 'Network Processors' would spend a good amount of time making the case for this technology, explaining why NPs are indispensable compared to general purpose CPUs. Unfortunately, I felt the book did not make a compelling case. Chapter 2, titled 'Network Processors: Justification,' is only 10 pages, with a single chart graphing bandwidth demand vs time. I would have liked to see head-to-head comparisons of NPs against CPUs for various network applications. The book spends a lot of time discussing technologies and concepts at the periphery of NPs; I think some of that space could have been put to better use.

Here is an example of why I felt let down by this book. In the preface, the author seems to assure the reader that he will answer questions others tend to ignore. On p. xix the author writes 'In numerous industry discussions, I have encountered experienced software engineers who have implemented cutting-edge protocols, but have no idea what concepts such as scheduling, backpressure, switching fabrics, and classification mean.' To be fair, the author does explain switching fabrics and classification. However, he says almost nothing about backpressure, and he certainly never explicitly defines it; the only mention is on p. 274.

Elsewhere, I thought the book was unnecessarily confusing. It's fine to cover deep technical details, but it helps to start with clear general definitions and progress to more difficult material. The following excerpt from p. 220, the second page of chapter 12, serves as part of the 'introduction' to content addressable memory: 'The principle of associative memory is based on the inverse mechanism of establishing a relationship between the input and a specific piece of information stored in the memory array.' This sentence is fine if the reader knows what 'associative memory' is, understands the 'inverse mechanism,' and can relate to 'the input' and a 'memory array.'

The layout of the book itself may have contributed to my difficulty with it. The font is one of the smallest I have ever encountered. The footnotes are so small as to be almost illegible. I like the hardcover binding, though.

Although not the author's fault, readers should be aware that many of the companies and some of the technologies in 'Network Processors' have disappeared. Each time I encountered a new company or product I checked to see if their Web page or product line still existed. For example, IBM's PowerNP receives an entire chapter; it was sold to Hifn in January 2004. In many cases, however, surviving vendors have not brought too many products to market since the book's late 2002 publication date.

I believe a second edition of 'Network Processors' would benefit from an editor who challenges the author to be more organized and generous with his audience. The book was built on a good idea -- bringing knowledge of NPs to general readers. A second edition should ensure that goal is met, since we do need to know more about this promising technology.

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The New McGraw-Hill Telecom Factbook

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
Authors: Joseph A. Pecar David A. Garbin

ISBN: 0071351639
List Price: $34.95
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Summary: Information Plus
Covered everything I needed to know except for
some of the alphabet names. ie: CIC, ACD, Etc.
Well researched and written.

Summary: An excellent reference
I found this book to be invaluable as a comprehensive source of information about telecommunications networks and related subjects. Unlike many other texts, this book does not assume that the reader is a consultant in the industry or has a strong engineering background. Even the choice of each chapter subject is carefully thought out so as to save the time and effort required of the businessperson who needs focused knowledge quickly. Pecar and Garbin do a great service by providing an outline, or basis for research of the expansive technologies and practical and historical approaches to the challenge of telecommunications. This book will see a lot of use in my office.. if I can keep it there.. It usually ends up in somebody elses!.

Summary: The Factbook is a Career-Saver!
This insightful work brings the divergent worlds of voice and data together. It provides a clear view of converging information technologies and implications for business processes. The Factbook is an indispensable guide to sound management decision-making.

Our telecommunications group has adopted the Factbook as its principal desk reference. And when it's needed, it's needed badly, so we each have a copy.

The Factbook is our go-to survival tool in today's information network jungle!...

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	Telecom Management Crash Course : A Telecom Company Survival Guide (Crash Course) Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional Authors: P. J. Louis
ISBN: 0071386203 List Price: $34.95 Amazon Price: $34.95 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 2 Reviews: Summary: Not Bad The author referenced the information as advertised but not as completely as I would have liked. Worth the look. Summary: P.J. has enlightened us again This is a cycle but the telecom market is still getting worse. It is still a matter of overextension. Too many companies that have borrowed from banks that expected to be huge players with large market share in too short of time. This was the book that set the ground work for how recovery can start taking place as the economy goes through this bullish period. Summary: Another Excellent Offering by P.J. Louis I have come to rely on P.J. Louis for insightful, articulate, and comprehensive analysis of telecom issues. His latest book on telecom management is important reading for all those who work at the decision-making level in telecoms - and also for anyone who works with them. This book is highly recommended. Summary:

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Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist

Publisher: Wiley
Authors: Om Malik

ISBN: 0471434051
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Summary: Highly Recommended!
If you've even glanced at your retirement account balance or brokerage statement in the past few years, you no doubt have felt the effects of the broadband bubble. Less publicized than the tech wreck of 2000, the broadband meltdown was every bit as costly. Journalist Om Malik gathers the varied tales of telecom shenanigans anddf then adds up the stock sales so you can see just how much the broadbandits took. Malik's engaging and vitriolic writing style is fun to read, and he makes the intriguing assertion that the telecoms outdid the dot-coms in terms of sheer greed and gall. We suggest this book to any investor who hopes not to get burned, and to any executive responsible for safeguarding shareholder value.

Summary: How the great telecom bubble grew and finally burst
It was the best of times (money flowed like water), it was the worst of times (in retrospect, for those who didn't cash out at or near the top). It was a great human drama, and unlike Dickens, it was all 100% nonfiction - it really did happen. For anyone in the telecom industry who lived through the bubble, and now the depression, for anyone who invested in the telecom bubble, or for anyone curious about one of the greatest financial manias in human history, I recommend Broadbandits.

Broadbandits profiles most of the key individuals and companies who helped inflate (and in many cases profit from) the telecom bubble, at a steady one company per chapter pace. Being in the telecom industry myself (still), I can state that Malik accurately captured the major stories I already knew, so I assume the rest of the book is generally factual. Although Malik focuses most of his anger on company bigwigs, he also admits that a bubble the size of this one could not have been created without active, willing participation from all sectors of the community: greedy disconnected CEOs, conflicted Wall Street and industry analysts, small investors who wanted to double their money overnight, and a unique confluence of regulatory and technological changes and advances.

Broadbandits could have been better. Malik's principle sources are business press articles, and he has a fascination with documenting dollar figures, so he doesn't probe as deeply as he could into the reasons behind the actions he reports. The book was written hurriedly (to keep it topical), and there are more than a few data errors. Malik correctly cites Ravi Suria's seminal report on the debt and finances of telecom firms, which proved how the emperor of telecom stocks had no clothes (I remember almost crying for joy when I originally read Suria's report), but he missed Jeremy Siegel's equally important bubble bursting op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal proving that Cisco and other high P/E stocks were way overvalued and that we were experiencing another "Nifty Fifty" tech mania episode. Finally, to return to my Dickens reference, the book would be even more dramatic if it recounted more anecdotal stories and statistics of the small investors and employees who lost their money, retirement savings and jobs, to provide contrast to the well-documented stories of folks who cleared many millions during the boom. However, I do admit that with the title of Broadbandits, the focus is on the bigwigs who inflated and profited from the bubble.

One more minor quibble: two of the people who praise Broadbandits on the back cover are thanked by Malik in his Acknowledgements. Conflicts of interest are everywhere! And just what did Malik do during his brief stint as a venture capitalist?

Summary: Like Reading Your Obituary in Living Color
I enjoyed the book very much. Chapter by chapter Om Malik gives the reader story by story of leading companies during the late 90's early 2000's and how they were brought down. Thought painful, as I along with many lost money during this period it brings home many basic investment thesis and bubble philosophies and makes for great read.

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Competition and Chaos: U.S. Telecommunications Since the 1996 Telecom Act

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Authors: Robert W. Crandall

ISBN: 0815716176
List Price: $32.95
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Summary: I wish I'd written this
This book on U.S. telecommunications policy over the last ten years is a jewel of clarity. It cuts through the endless debates and draws sharp, clear, and actionable conclusions. Unfortunately, because telecommunications policy is pretty abstruse stuff, not many readers will be all that interested, or stick with the book. For those that do, they will be well rewarded. One word of warning: Robert Crandall does a lot of consulting for the RBOCs, and as a result he is occasionally biased. But over all he manages to put his biases aside, and produce a fair assessment.

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