Network Sales and Services Handbook

A technical handbook for network sales and customer service personnel

Network Sales and Services Handbook covers the following:

• Foundational concepts and discussions of how networks interconnect
• The OSI model and its fundamental importance for moving information between computers on an internetwork
• Customer premises equipment, including a discussion of hardware commonly found at a customer site
• Threats to a network and methods for protecting a network against such threats
• Concepts of geographical networks and the three-tiered network hierarchy
• QoS and a network's capability to provide better service to select network traffic over various internetworking technologies
• Methods available to remote users for securely accessing organizational resources
• Public switched telephone network services and customer access
• Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and how it is used in a network backbone
• The fundamentals of fiber-optic networks, including Synchronous Optical Networks and Dense Wave Division Multiplexing

One of the most significant challenges in any technical organization is knowledge transfer: getting the knowledge from those "in the know" (network engineers or consultants) to those on the "front lines" (those individuals who are selling and supporting a client's network services). Because these individuals tend to be quota driven, a sales/service team often does not have a lot of available time away from the field; potentially resulting in lost revenue. Understanding knowledge transfer is necessary for people working as customer service representatives and managers, engineering technicians, and presales account managers.

Network Sales and Services Handbook provides sales and support professionals the fundamental technical knowledge necessary to understand customer needs. Designed as a complete reference guide, Network Sales and Services Handbook details networking basics, including foundational concepts and discussions of the many different LAN and WAN technologies and their functionality. Also included are fundamental discussions on quality of service (QoS), voice networks, and fiber optics, as well as a brief summary of the common routing protocols used in an internetwork.

If you are a non-engineer associated with an engineering environment, Network Sales and Services Handbook is an essential part of your resource library.

Matthew J. "Cat" Castelli has more than 14 years of experience in the telecommunications networking industry, starting as a cryptologic technician (communications) in the U.S. Navy. Cat has since worked as a principal consultant for a Cisco Professional Services partner, as the senior technical consultant/enterprise network design engineer, a global telecommunications integrator, and recently as the architecture, engineering, and information assurance (IA) liaison for NMCI (Navy/Marine Corps Intranet). Cat has broad exposure to LAN/WAN, Internet, and alternative technologies (VoX) for service provider and enterprise networks of all sizes. This exposure includes implementation, application, configuration, integration, network management, and security solutions.