I would like to thank David Kim for providing great content for this book and several iterations of updates, as well as the book’s incredibly talented team (Ned, Melissa, Paula, Belinda, Kim, Chris, and Jeff). All of your input has really made this a better book. And thanks to my dad, who retired from AT&T with a ton of knowledge of how communications work, and passed a fair amount on to me. He helped put things in perspective with stories and some great analogies.

Michael G. Solomon

First, I would like to thank Michael Solomon for convincing me to participate in this 3rd edition update to “Fundamentals of Communications & Networking”. Co-authoring a book requires a certain amount of patience and understanding for what the other author is writing. Working with Michael has not only brought our professional lives together but also our personal lives. I consider Michael my friend now thanks to multiple book projects we have co-authored together over the past few years.

Second, I am grateful for the professional support team put together by Jones & Bartlett Learning and the Ascend Learning team. Working with Ned, Belinda, Kim, Paula, Melissa, and our technical editing duo of Jeff and Chris made this fun and engaging from start to finish. Thank you so much for your fluid workflows and constant push to get things done on time. I am convinced now that authoring a book can be fun and engaging.

Third, to the reader or student of this book, congratulations! You are on the right career path. Any information technology (IT) career path that you take must include a foundational understanding of how data networking works. Understanding TCP/IP protocol behavior and how data networking works will help any IT professional with their career given that IP communications is fundamental to how today’s applications and the Internet operate.

Finally, behind every book, chapter, page, word, and line drawing that I have ever created is a woman who has always stood by my side, day and night, for better or worse, in health or in sickness, and until death do us part. When I am in book-writing mode, she brings me my morning coffee, feeds me from dawn to dusk, sings love songs for me when I have a lull, and ensures that I have quiet time when I am writing a book chapter. She is and always will be the one who gives me purpose in life to work hard, to be the best I can be, and to make me always want to love her and our children more.

I dedicate this book to my twin-flame soulmate MiYoung Kim. No matter where our life journey takes us, I will always be waiting for you at the heaven train station (since you have my ticket)!

David Kim

Jones & Bartlett Learning would personally like to thank all of the people who reviewed the 2nd edition of this book, whose feedback helped to shape this revision:

Ata Elahi

Southern Connecticut State University

Shengli Fu

University of North Texas

Glyn Gowing

LeTourneau University

John M. Hunt

Covenant College

Jingfeng Li

Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Andrew Morrow

Penn State University

Richard W. Vanderbilt

University Heights