The Basics Book of Isdn (Basics Book Series)

Now MIS and data communications professionals can quickly and easily move beyond the capabilities in ISDN's future and focus on the practical benefits ISDN can offer companies today. Benefits like the costs saved by leasing fewer lines and simply dialing up bandwidth during peak times, increased productivity gained by a shorter time to connect, and more.

This book is designed for datacomm professionals who are curious to know what they need to know about "ISDN," also known as the "Integrated Services Digital Network."

We assume that you know a little-but not a lot!-about data communications. (If you want to brush up on the basics, ask us for the first book in the series: The Basics Book of Information Networking.) We also assume that if you live north of Antarctica, you have already heard some of the hype about ISDN, and tsome hard facts about this beast. What is it? What can it do for you? And how soon?

Chapter 1 gives a quick overview of how we communicators got to where we are today, and so is optional reading for those already in the know about the analog phone network. Chapter 2 is wear-your-hip-boots material-we'll go deeper into the theoretical concepts behind ISDN. Chapter 3 explains how the theoretical material in Chapter 2 translates into hardware and software in the real world. Chapter 4 gives you general ideas about assessing your current network, and about how ISDN might fit into that network. And finally, Chapter 5 presents some typical ISDN applications, stressing what's out there today, and what will be out there the day after tomorrow.