The topics this book touches lie within the networking field, an exciting area that in the last 20 years has experienced a stunning growth and gained an increasing popularity. Just as previous ages of modern society have been marked by technological advancements that significantly shaped them, from transistors to personal computers, our life is now molded by emails, our work and leisure time clocked by websites, our children daily accompanied by the Internet. What lies behind this boiling surface? What infrastructures and communication rules allow us to connect to the Internet from home through an ADSL connection? How does information travel on a high-speed backbone from our office to an overseas destination? Through a rigorous yet practical approach, the aim of this volume is to provide all the concepts needed for a thorough knowledge of networking technologies, as well as to breed the development of agile skills in modern network design.

After laying the common language foundations and the basic concepts and terminology within the field, the book is committed to a critical treatment of the technologies, protocols and devices adopted in contemporary networks. A special emphasis is placed on building an effective competence in all subject areas: hence, each topic is complemented by guided and commented practices, where proficiencies are challenged through real problems. The aim is to strengthen the abilities needed for present-day network design. The chapter structure reflects the authors’ pedagogical view: first build good foundations and gain expertise in each topic, then consolidate and confront real networking issues.