This text addresses an issue of paramount interest, namely, network standards. There is considerable activity in various network standards. The fundamental aim of the open systems interconnection (OSI) model is to define standards for data communication that will enable computers from different manufacturers to communicate with each other. OSI only offers peer-to-peer protocols and does not support master-slave communications. The text gives detailed descriptions of the various network layers.
The book’s 15 chapters cover the following topics
Overview and Background
Standards Organisations and the Standards Processes
The Reference Model
Layers 1 to 3
Transport Layer
The Session Layer
Overview of Presentation and Application Layers
The Presentation Layer
Common Application Service Elements
File Transfer, Access and Management
Job Transfer and Manipulation
Virtual Terminal Service and Protocol
Management
Security
Conformance, Conformance Testing and Procurement.
It would have been of interest to include comparisons with competing standards such as TCP/IP [1]. The authors do accomplish their main purpose, answering the questions: What is OSI? Why might I wish to use OSI? How does one implement OSI? and How should one approach procurement of OSI implementations?
