Appropriate for all introductory-to-intermediate courses in networking, telecommunications, or data communications. This book combines a thorough introduction to data communications and networking theory with a practical, 'how-to' approach that enables students to apply the theory in real world environments. The text is organized into five logically-related parts, helping students discover how a data communications infrastructure builds from standards, to protocols, to working networks designed to solve a wide variety of business problems. Allen Dooley begins with fundamental concepts such as OSI and TCP/IP layered modeling and standards, as well as essential physical and data link layer details.