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Reviewer: Cheer-Sun Yang

When wireless technologies became prevalent in the world of networking, wireless broadband began its market penetration into hard-to-reach areas. The IEEE 802.16 standard has emerged as a result of this phenomenon. Today, the latest announcement of IEEE 802.16e also makes mobile wireless broadband access possible. This book can be considered a timely report on the experiences needed to build 802.16 wireless networks. Building 802.16 requires knowledge of broadband wireless networking. This book starts out with introductory discussions in chapters 1 and 2. These two chapters provide some background information about worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) and the available technologies including frame relay, digital subscriber line, hybrid fiber coax, and wireless broadband. Using a first-person voice, the author presents criteria for determining when broadband wireless is cost effective, such as the total cost of ownership, scalability, and subscriber density. In the next three chapters, the author delineates the strategic planning of the spectrum, setting up the physical infrastructure, and strategies for successful deployment of the physical infrastructure. For managers and practitioners, the final four chapters also cover other important issues about how to make this business a profit-generating one. These issues include the placement of a central office, service options, network management issues, and network security issues. As the author claims, this book is "an operational handbook rather than an engineering text, and it is highly practical rather than theoretical." The author shares some personal thoughts about, and experiences with, setting up a broadband network. For nontechnical audiences, this book provides invaluable insight into a highly technical area. However, the author makes no attempt to describe the business or marketing strategies. All chapters are written for people without any prerequisites; all concepts are described in layman?s terms. The book?s merits are sometimes also its weak points. First, the lay terms sometimes become inaccurate. For example, the media access control layer (page 3) is described as "the network layer immediately above the physical layer." As this statement is understandable to technical people, it is not accurate to call this layer a "network layer." A network layer is used to refer to the layer between the transport layer and the data link layer. A suggested term could be a "protocol layer" instead of a "network layer." Another example is the misuse of some acronyms. When the acronym for Bell Communications Research is abbreviated as Belcore (now Telcordia), it can be accepted as a typographical error. However, the use of QUAM as the acronym for the 16-quadrature amplitude modulation is nonstandard. A more frequently used acronym for this term is 16-QAM. This book may need constant revision when too many subjective comments and sentences are used. For example, the first sentence of the last section in chapter 1 claims that "IEEE 802.16 is a new standard, and the equipment embodying it is new." When IEEE 802.16e has been unveiled to move from fixed wireless to mobile wireless broadband, should this book also be revised to say that IEEE 802.16 is an evolving standard__?__ If you read this book expecting a structural approach to this area or a technical treatment of IEEE 802.16, you will be disappointed. To paraphrase a cliché, the merits of this book are in the eyes of the beholder. If you are an administrative person, this book may be just for you. However, it is definitely not an appropriate choice for a textbook in any course?business-oriented or technical. Issues such as the most costly area when installing an 802.16 wireless network, most demanded services, legal issues, and solutions to the security issues are not discussed. Online Computing Reviews Service