Product Description

“In this updated and expanded edition of her excellent telecommunications primer, Lili explains in just the right detail everything you need to know to become fluent in this most important and fascinating industry. Besides including a satisfying amount of expert technical detail, the book also discusses equally crucial aspects of how communications technology affects society, culture, and politics. Electronic communications is changing the world for the better; learn from Lili’s expertise how you, too, can participate in the revolution.”
—Steve Riley, senior security strategist, Microsoft Corporation

“The book you hold in your hand is a rarity. In more than thirty years of teaching, administration, and research in telecommunications, I have never found a single book that could serve these diverse areas. The search is over. Telecommunications Essentials is best-of-breed in telecommunications publishing and represents the most thorough, comprehensive, and forward-looking resource to date. Both student and practitioner alike will find the unique blend of introductory and advanced material a ‘one-stop-shop.’ If it was a movie, this book would receive two thumbs up!”
—Dr. Art St. George, manager of advanced technologies, University of New Mexico

“Telecommunications Essentials should be on the shelf of every professional working in voice and data networking. It is the first place I go when I need to look up something that I am unsure of or when I encounter a new or unfamiliar term. I have been using Telecommunications Essentials now for two years as the course text for business technology students taking Introduction to Telecommunications. My course covers the entire book and the students end up with a practical knowledge base of the components, technologies, and connectivity that make today’s networks work. This new edition is most welcome since it includes new advances in the areas of fiber optics, wireless, Voice over IP, and broadband technologies that have emerged since the publication of the first edition. This new edition will replace my well-worn copy of my first edition of Telecommunications Essentials, which has served me well so far.”
—Robert Hudyma, professor of business, Ryerson University

“This is an excellent reference book on telecommunications. It’s up-to-date on the latest technology, it’s comprehensive, and most of all, it’s easy to read and understand. Lili has the rare ability to explain very complex subjects well. If you need a good reference book on telecommunications, I would start with this.”
—To Chee Eng, research director, communications, Gartner

“Lillian makes telecoms fun.”
—Ni Quiaque Lai, CFO, Hong Kong Broadband Network Ltd.

“Goleniewski’s Telecommunications Essentials sets the stage by discussing forward-looking applications that are made possible by advances in telecommunications technology, including embedded devices, intelligent wearables, intelligent robot squads, and many others. This initial discussion is quite motivating for students and makes them eager to learn about various networking technologies, which are covered quite well in the rest of the book. The first edition (published in 2003) was already a great book for teaching telecommunications essentials, and it is clear that the second edition brings us up to the present and is a remarkable treatment of the topic.”
—Dr. Lundy Lewis, chair of the Department of Information Technology, Southern New Hampshire University

“The book covers not just the fundamentals of telecommunications, but it easily guides the readers through the wide variety of technical details of next-generation network services, converged network architectures, and technologies. Lillian’s elegant and clear style of presentation makes the book an excellent reference for system developers as well as telecommunications system designers to understand the current and emerging technologies that support business applications.”
—Dr. Tibro Gyires, professor, Illinois State University, School of Information Technology

“When Lili published her first edition of Telecommunications Essentials, I was a consultant in the communications field. Her guide was the only one I used to keep current. Now I’m in different field altogether but I need to understand this highly extensive field. Telecommunications Essentials is comprehensive, user-friendly, insightful, and fun. It’s the only resource to have if you want to know telecom.”
—Dave Feldman, consul, trade and investment, British Embassy

“After four decades of working in the computer and telecommunications fields, and more than twenty years of teaching graduate-level courses in telecommunications and network management at four universities, I finally have a book that meets the needs of students who are working to gain an in-depth and comprehensive grasp of an ever-changing field. Lili Goleniewski wrote that book. Her second edition is an outstanding contribution to the field and will be the best teaching aid I have ever had. If you teach you should use this book. If you want to really learn about telecommunications and data networks you should insist that your school adopt the book as a text.”
—Michael Erbschloe, consultant, author, and educator

“Telecommunications is not just about the legacy telephone network or the evolving wireless networks or the rapidly expanding Internet. It is about all of these and much more. It requires years of expertise in this fascinating field, combined with skillful writing ability, to develop a book that presents in an interesting and insightful manner the multifaceted disciplines of telecommunications. Lillian Goleniewski has accomplished this immense task with great skill in her book Telecommunications Essentials. Beginning students and professionals alike will benefit from this book. It can serve as an excellent reference book for telecommunications executives and business professionals who need to understand the basics of telecommunications and the workings of next-generation networks. Congratulations to the author on a task well done!”
—Dr. Seshadri Mohan, chair and professor, Systems Engineering Department, University of Arkansas at Little Rock

“Telecommunications Essentials is a brilliant book for a broad and in-depth picture of the nitty-gritty aspects of telecommunications. Lili has a way of explaining complicated topics very well. It is a must-have book for any person who works in the IT world.”
—Lino Alberts, department manager technology operations, RBTT Bank Aruba N.V.

“A truly amazing book. A ‘must-have’ for anyone who wants to know the basics of telecommunication, how it works, and where the industry is heading. This book is excellent for all audiences—from novice to expert. Lili has successfully broken down the complexity of telecommunication so it can be easily understood.”
—Mohd Radzi b. Mohd Yusoff, senior manager, MSC Technology Centre, Sdn Bhd, Malaysia

“Telecommication Essentials describes the most technical elements of the subject in layperson’s terms, while remaining engaging for those with greater understanding. In providing the link between the most complex of telecommunications technology and its most simple applications, both now and in the future, Telecommunication Essentials is the most readable book on the subject both for newcomers and for ‘old hands.’ Lili exudes enthusiasm throughout, providing a vision for the future that draws the reader in.”
—Neil Juggins, head of research, Evolution Securities China

“One of the great challenges facing those responsible for setting public policy or regulation associated with the converging technologies of telecommunications, IT, and media is that before the ‘ink is dry’ on their pronouncements, advancements in the underlying science and technology has often made the ‘new’ policy, laws, and regulation out-of-date or irrelevant. While Lili does not claim to predict the future in her second edition of Telecommunications Essentials, she takes what is to many ‘Rocket Science’ and delivers it up in ways that those responsible for protecting the ‘public good’ and maintaining more competitive communications marketplaces can easily understand. Lili is one of the few telecommunications educators out there, catering to a diverse a reader base, who has been keeping up with Moore’s Law and what it really means in the real world of telecommunications. She continues to maintain her technological neutrality, never attempting to ‘sell’ a particular flavor-of-the-year with regard to who is the ‘best’ at delivering ‘what’ to ‘whom,’ nor falling into a mumbo-jumbo mantra of which national regulatory authority has invented the best-of-the-best new legal regime, something sorely needed by those needing a bias free technology primer.”
—Thom Ramsey, partner, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (Brussels & Washington, D.C) and former Deputy United States Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, U.S. Department of State

“As a journalist who writes about the Defense Department’s most complicated space programs, I need to have a very clear and current handle on the technology and the operational aspects of the equipment and platforms. I a...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #210617 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 928 pages

From the Author
Telecommunications Essentials is the complete global reference on telecommunications technologies, applications, and networks. The book is based on the globally acclaimed LIDO Telecommunications Essentials(R) seminar series, which I’ve had the pleasure of conducting, globally, since 1984.

This book is designed to allow a non-technical professional, as well as technical professional wishing to expand their range of knowledge, to develop an understanding of the language and concepts comprising telecommunications, while also providing enough technical depth to develop a sound knowledge of the key technologies and network infrastructures. Its organization reflects the logical progression of telecommunications developments and solutions, allowing one to develop a historical basis for appreciating the evolution of telecommunications, while developing an enthusiasm for realizing the magnitude of the revolution yet to come.

My academic background in clinical psychology, combined with 21 years of practical experience in telecommunications consulting and education, allows me to deliver information about complex technologies with a distinct human touch, one designed not just to teach you the principles of telecommunications, but to also engage your interest, and inspire your desire to learn more.

Realizing that the study of telecom involves lifelong learning, Telecommunications Essentials is supported with an online learning environment, including LIDO Telecom WebCentral(R), a knowledge portal offering access to over 6,000 web resources, as well as the Telecom Essentials Learning Center, where you can take online quizzes, engage in or create discussion groups, access an online glossary, and find over 1,000 recommendations on selected books, magazines and websites, all organized according to the chapters of the book.

From the Back Cover

"Here is a book that de-mystifies a technical world. The book will be a permanent fixture on my 'go to find an answer' reference list."

"Whether you are new to Telecom or have years of experience, this well organized and detailed reference will help you learn what you need to know or remember what you have forgotten."

Telecommunications Essentials is an in-depth introduction to the rapidly growing world of telecommunications. The book provides a global perspective, which ensures a complete understanding of telecommunications technologies and standards worldwide. Providing a comprehensive, one-stop reference for anybody wanting to get up to speed on the $2.5 trillion telecommunications industry, this book not only covers the basic building blocks but also introduces the most current information on new technologies like wireless, broadband, and optical networking.

Customer Reviews

The best telecom reference in print
Lillian Goleniewski has done the IT community a service. She's written a coherent, comprehensive guide to the telecommunications world. "Telecommunications Essentials" doesn't omit technical details. It frames them within a business and historical context that similar books lack. I've read and reviewed three other recently published telecom titles, and this one is clearly the best. Some of the details I enjoyed were descriptions of how fiber is manufactured, the number of wire pairs associated with various transmission media, and specifications for various global television standards.

The telecom world is full of agencies, standards, and products, each referenced by a three- or four-letter acronym. Lillian guides the reader through this technology jungle, offering clear descriptions and historical background. She also provides a thorough glossary (87 pages) and index. Another of the book's impressive features is its global focus, with attention given to E- and J- carrier, as well as T-carrier, systems. Other examples include cellular telephone frequencies used worldwide. Numerous diagrams and figures illustrate the author's main points.

The book is not perfect enough to merit five stars. It suffers from minor typos and at least one technical error. Sadly, like many networking books, "Telecommunications Essentials" states that TCP sequence numbers count individual packets. This is false; TCP sequence numbers count bytes of data. Although I am not qualified to critique the accuracy of the phone-related information, I was pleased to see the remainder of the networking material was correct.

"Telecommunications Essentials" is a must-buy if you want to learn about the telecom world. Although the author devotes too many words to describing the use of technology, and future trends, overall the book is excellent.

Excellent Overview of Telecommunications
Telecommunications Essentials is a superb introduction to the larger field of telecommunications. The text is a rather lengthy book, with numerous illustrations and an expansive glossary, that can be read from cover to cover. The author does an excellent job of covering virtually every part of the telecom infrastructure, including POTS, fiber optics, residential broadband and wireless.

The real difficulty in writing a book like this is deciding to what depth technical material should reach. The author does do a good job of describing some rather complex subjects without resorting to material requiring a formal technical education. Numerous diagrams aid in the readers understanding of the material. The comprehensive glossary also facilitates the learning process.

Seldom does the author delve into detailed mathematics or the physics of propagation. Interestingly, she does describe coding schemes, which is important. There are some technical mistakes, however. In one very odd example, the author confuses femto- with peta- in which she describes "femtobits per second" Fbps. This is repeated, which makes one question the accuracy of other material and quality of the editing.

Since there is no detailed description of hardware, circuits or semiconductors, this book is not for engineers. Rather if you are an investment professional or management consultant working in the area of telecommunications, it will provide a broad overview of telecommunications technology. The text is packed with the lingo of the industry. It also does a good job of explaining the basics of transmission and architecture. However, since it is geared more towards the marginally technical businessperson, it seems that there would be more mention of the players and the relationship between them such as IXC's, CLEC's, and RBOC's. Moreover, there is little mention of economics, which has been of great interest in the past four years as many notable bankruptcies and over-investment have made headlines.

What it is lacking... It suffers from stale data due to the rapidly evolving telecom space. It appears that much of the information is current as of 2001. This leaves many of the recent developments in wireless out of the book. It appears that the author doesn't yet realize the dominance wireless will have in the marketplace. Moreover, discussion of the growth of fixed line-of-site and NLOS technologies are really not discussed. Also, there is little explanation of HFC. Lastly, there is no sections on OSS or billing, which are quite important as far as the industry is concerned.

Despite the shortcomings, the book was an excellent read. I haven't come across another similar text, so it is quite hard to provide a comparison. The broad coverage makes the book at good starting point for entry into the telecommunications industry. Clearly, to get a better understanding of the specific components of the telecom infrastructure, one must reference other texts.

A Cost-effective Path to Basic Telecom Knowledge
The book does what it sets out to do - cover the basic underpinnings of modern telecom. Its' age (a scant three years) shows a bit here and there (some of the material obviously predating the book), but for the most part it is accurate and relevant. It is not a technical document, as 600 pages would not be enough to cover the component technology. It mentions occasionally the regulatory issues in telecom, but only in passing; its' primary focus is on business. It makes a good book for the student or someone interested in a telecom career. I might also recommend it to someone whose future plans include sitting through a telecom sales pitch or taking a meeting with telecom lobbyists (at least the part where they might drag in an engineer to talk about some cool new technology).

When I say it has a business focus, I mean that it tries to explain the pros and cons of a particular technology in terms of cost, complexity, and ability to satisfy customer needs. Applying the same criteria, I would say the author has provided a moderately costly (that is, not free), easy to understand, and given the constraints of the business focus, does so rather well.

But the book has a few flaws. Here's what I found -

p.254 - "binary form" should read "dotted decimal form" - which the author uses correctly on the following page.

p.255 - no mention of NAT (Network Address Translation) as a means of saving IPv4 address space. Like the author, I'd like to see IPv6 deployed before I'm too old to care.

p.298 - the phrase "going forward" should be extirpated before the next edition. Also appears on p.312.

p.310 - the author briefly mentions an imminent "talent dearth" as driving the next wave of technical innovation, then trots out some ITAA blurb about half the job vacancies going unfilled each year. Of course, training might also help the problem, if global business can be bothered with such trifles.

p.340 - ANX was purchased by SAIC in 1999 I think, and its' URL as published has been deprecated. On the bright side, I did see a picture of a cute puppy when I went there.

p.354 - in discussing voice chat in games, author uses Sega Dreamcast as example. Only the good die young...

p.429 - author mentions Amsterdam. Sounds like reasonable grounds for a drug test to me! Of course, there's always the excuse of visiting the Van Gogh museum...

p.459 merits a special mention as both the best and worst way to sell a wireless future. Not only will the world be at your fingertips, but it will be trying to gnaw them off. While the author sees a benevolent infrastructure where knowledge of your whereabouts and tastes will be used to respond to your needs quickly and thoroughly, I see a world where your convenience comes at the price of empowering spammers, stalkers, and government goons.

Some of the parts I really enjoyed either because of their novelty or thoughtfulness were as follows:

p.274-6 - talking about the notion of backhauling data, the author touches on a problem analogous to Net Neutrality.

The Internet primer on p.259-80 was maybe the best I've read. Sadly it was too short.

Also enjoyed the circuit-switching chapters 4 and 5.

p.331 - author makes a case for tiered Internet. I'm hopeful we can keep "best effort" Internet service at a quality level sufficient for playing Battlefield 2 for the foreseeable future.

This book is better than three stars, but not quite four. Were its' material a little fresher, it would merit four. I'll check out the website and update this review accordingly.