Understanding Data Communications: From Fundamentals to Networking

Man’s constant quest to communicate has resulted in a quantum leap in technology related to data communications. For the past quarter century the maximum obtainable transmission rate on many types of communications facilities has doubled every three to five years. During the past few years this growth rate has accelerated, with emerging technologies providing a transmission
capability an order of magnitude or more above what were considered high operating rates just a year or two ago. Accompanying this growth and, in many cases, providing the impetus for the technological developments that made such growth possible are communications-dependent applications.