Date: 13 Nov 93 10:11 -0600 From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "Open Systems networking" by Piscitello/Chapin BKOPSYNT.RVW 931013 Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. P.O. Box 520 26 Prince Andrew Place Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 or Tiffany Moore, Publicity 72203.642@compuserve.com John Wait, Editor, Corporate and Professional Publishing johnw@aw.com 1 Jacob Way Reading, MA 01867-9984 800-527-5210 617-944-3700 5851 Guion Road Indianapolis, IN 46254 800-447-2226 "Open Systems Networking", Piscitello/Chapin, 1993 lyman@bbn.com dave@mail.bellcore.com Open systems and networking are two of the current "big issues" in computing and information systems planning, even if few can tell you what they actually are. Every proprietary system is "open," and every company making even the most peripheral component is committed to "networking". OSI and TCP/IP are recognizably two of the major "players' in this game, although their positions may not be clear. This state of affairs is not made any better by the many rumours and myths: TCP/IP is an academic toy; TCP/IP is an *example* of OSI; buying OSI compliant products will guarantee inter-operability; TCP/IP now has the commercial "high ground" and it is now *OSI* that is the academic toy. This book is both a conceptual introduction to open systems networking, and a detailed comparison of the structures of TCP/IP and OSI. That said, it is still easier, as with Usenet, to define what it is not, than what it is. This is not a technical manual. Technical detail there is, and competent, too. This is not, however, a reprinting of the standards, although it is a good guide to and through them. While the work gives a good background for programming and implementation, one suspects it is more for the manager than the programmer. When one is examining technical books, the mere sight of a "series" cover sets off alarms. Series books tend to be textbooks, or boring, or both. This book is not boring. The writing style is lively, with the best (or most outrageous) parts set off by ".AHA." boxes and italic text. The anecdotes and background will be of interest to anyone in the communications or networking field. The preface is decidedly odd, and chapter one seems to be the preface. Chapter two is a quick overview of both the OSI and Internet structures. Part two, chapters three to five, is entitled, "Open Network Architecture": it covers the concepts and vocabulary of open systems, and compares the terms of the two structures. Part three deals with the way the "upper layers" and common applications are handled, while part four covers the lower layers. Finally, part five makes, in a number of different ways, the point that the choice does not have to be TCP/IP or OSI -- the two systems can be complementary. The references section contains many valuable listings. An annotated bibliography would have been helpful. In a sense there is one -- distributed throughout the book. It would have been handy to have collected some of this into a single section. This work provides a unique perspective, and some very important information. It belongs on every MIS shelf. It also belongs in every college and university library where any type of data communications and networking courses are taught. It should also come in very handy for every development project where there is a question as to why TCP is being used rather than OSI ... or vice versa ... copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKOPSYNT.RVW 931013 Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM Digest and associated mailing lists/newsgroups. DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca