Data communication and networks are fast becoming the largest industry in the world. It is one area of work with which every virtual person has some involvement, whether it be using the telephone or connecting to the Internet. An IT specialist must know existing technologies, but must also know where the industry will go. This book is intended to cover the existing tech­ nologies and also the emerging technologies. I believe that the growth areas in the coming years will be in: . Windows NT networking and associated networking programs. . TCPIIP communications. . NetWare 4. . Data encryption. . Data compression. . Digitization of video, audio and images. . Fast Ethernet. . ATM. . FDDI. . HTML/Java/JavaScript. . Virtually anything to do with the Internet and especially Intranets. This book discusses each of these technologies in great detail and covers areas which are currently relevant, such as Ethernet, UNIX, RS-232 and electronic mail. The book splits into seven main sections and some appendices, such as: . General data compression (Chapters 2 and 3). . Video, images and sound (Chapters 4-10). . Error coding and encryption (Chapters 11-15). . TCPIIP and the Internet (Chapters 16-23). . Network operating systems (Chapters 24-26). . LANslW ANs (Chapters 27-33). . Cables and connectors (Appendix B).