The #1 Telecom Guide for Businesspeople and Nontechnical Professionals—Fully Updated for Cloud Services, Social Media, and Advanced Mobile Networks Completely updated for the newest trends and technologies, The Essential Guide to Telecommunications, Fifth Edition, is the world’s top-selling nontechnical guide to today’s fast-changing telecommunications industry. Longtime consultant Annabel Z. Dodd illuminates every important new innovation, from cloud services to social networks, mobile video to telepresence. Redesigned as a quicker, easier read, this edition reveals how the telecom market has evolved from a low-margin “commodity” business to a high-margin, customer-oriented, services business targeting key vertical markets. It focuses heavily on mobile/wireless networks, advanced video infrastructure, and crucial industry developments throughout Asia, China, India, Africa, and Latin America. Writing in plain English, Dodd demystifies today’s most significant technologies, standards, and architectures. She introduces the industry-leading providers, explains where they fit in a fast-changing marketplace, and presents their key strategies. Coverage includes How the technical building blocks of modern networks come together in real solutions Assessing the massive business and technical implications of the cloud computing revolution How ubiquitous tools like Skype, Facebook, and the iPhone are transforming networks Understanding recent radical changes in data centers, PBXs, and other enterprise systems How many service providers are successfully refocusing on higher bandwidth, higher value offerings How mobile carriers are balancing performance and cost in timing 4G upgrades What security advances, such as deep packet inspection, mean to networking professionals—and to users How new concerns about regulation, security, and energy usage are reshaping the industry How high levels of competition have dramatically reduced the cost of mobile services in India and elsewhere This indispensable guide provides everything you need to know about telecommunications now—whether you’re a salesperson, marketer, investor, or customer.