Newton's Telecom Dictionary: Telecommunications, Networking, Information Technologies, The Internet, Wired, Wireless, Satellites and Fiber [Paperback]

REVIEW OF THE 26th EDITION:

The past few days I've been browsing the 26th edition. The dictionary has a nice look and feel, like the 25th edition. It has 26,283 definitions, up from 24,950 in the 25th edition. I like how it stays open on any page you open it to. Sounds simple, but it's a nice user-friendly feature.

There are LOTS of new wireless terms in the 26th edition, for example, at least 20 new terms related to Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi calling, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, Wi-Fi roaming, Wi-Fi tethering, Wi-Fi smog, carrier Wi-Fi, and a bunch of definitions for new flavors of 802.11).

New Bluetooth definitions have been added (for example, Bluetooth 2.1, Bluetooth 3.0, and Bluetooth LE).

There also now are definitions for White-Fi, white space network, and white space phone.

There also are many other new wireless-related definitions in the 26th edition that pertain to ham radio, military communications, cellular telephony, small cells, and maritime communications. I like how the dictionary has gone beyond its roots in wireline telephony and embraces wireless communications in a big way.

The 26th edition also has a lot of "green telecom" and cloud-related definitions that were not in earlier editions.

One of the other reviewers of the 25th edition here on Amazon.com will be pleased to learn that the 26th edition's definitions of DOCSIS, DOCSIS 1.1, DOCSIS 2.0, and DOCSIS 3.0 have been updated, and definitions for all versions of HTML up to and including HTML 5.0 have been updated or included if they were missing before.

All things considered, the 26th edition is a great update.

My review of the 25th edition, which follows, contains information that is also true about the 26th edition.

EARLIER REVIEW OF THE 25th EDITION:

Speaking from over 20 years of experience working at LECs and domestic and international LD carriers, and having used various telecom and networking dictionaries over the years, I can say with certainty that Newton's Telecom Dictionary is the best -- by a mile.

Each year 500 to 1,000 new definitions are added to Newton's, and existing definitions are updated, improved, or enhanced in other ways. No other telecom dictionary on the market has even half as many definitions as Newton's. In fact, if you combine the definitions from all the other telecom dictionaries and weed out duplicates, their combined total probably still will be less than half of what's in Newton's. Harry Newton clearly loves telecom, as shown by the copiousness of the dictionary, the continuous additions to it, and the continuous refinements of it.

Our company currently has around 30 copies of the 25th edition and 300 copies of earlier editions. Newton's is used in the following departments: network engineering, network planning, circuit layout, security, legal and regulatory, enterprise sales, small and medium business sales, consumer sales, wholesale markets, sales engineering, managed network services, strategy and business development, marketing, customer service, billing operations, operator services, IT, education and training, corporate communications, outside plant, station I&M, wireless ops, and PMO; it's also used by our company's senior executives.

Newton's Telecom Dictionary is widely used in industry, government, the U.S. military, and academia. It is frequently cited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and in documents submitted to the FCC by petitioners. Newton's Telecom Dictionary is also cited in print by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the U.S. Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS), the U.S. National Communications System (NCS), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Small Business Administration (SBA), public utilities commissions (PUCs), public service commissions (PSCs), state and municipal government in the U.S. and abroad, and overseas PTTs (Post, Telephone, and Telegraph organizations).

It is also cited by over 100 textbooks, handbooks, and other technical reference books.

I've seen Newton's at telcos, cellular phone companies, long-distance carriers, broadband service providers, MVNOs, electrical engineering firms, defense contractors, systems integration companies, software services companies, commercial and public radio stations, a TV station, an Army satellite communications station, law firms, an ad agency, the IT department of a health services organization, the IT department of a realty company, the offices of a technology magazine publisher, universities, high schools, and state government offices.

Users of earlier editions of Newton's will be very pleased with this 25th anniversary edition. It has more terms than ever -- probably closer to 26,000 by my reckoning (based on a 10-page random sample) than the 24,950 indicated on the book's cover -- and a much more visually appealing and readable typography than was used in earlier editions. There are some new tables in the dictionary, expansions and updates of earlier definitions, and additional timeline dates.

Another interesting change is that the 25th edition uses a much thinner paper than earlier editions. It's the kind of paper that you see in books published in parts of the Far East, for example, in China and Taiwan. There are two practical benefits of this. First, even though the dictionary has grown by over 200 pages from its previous edition -- there are now 1,274 pages in the dictionary, not 1,250 pages as incorrectly stated in various booksellers' descriptions of it -- the dictionary is actually much lighter and thinner than previous editions. You can now easily carry it around with you. Second, because of the thin paper, it makes the book more flexible. You can open it to any page, let go of the page, and the book will stay open on that page.

This dictionary belongs in every department in every telco, cellco, cableco, pubco, satco, IXC, VoIP provider, AOS provider, systems integrator, managed services provider, equipment manufacturer, data center, and carrier hotel. Anyone outside of these industries who is involved in some way with telecom or networking, or who is studying it in school, or who writes about it for a living, will also find the 25th edition an indispensible resource.

If you want just one book to cover IT and telecom this is the one! This book is a great aid for me on my job with a telecommunications company.

Whether you are a hands-on technician, a certified engineer, a marketer, a vendor manager, a systems administrator, an IT manager, or just someone who has to manage phone bills, then Harry Newton's Telecom Dictionary is an indispensable reference for the office. With 26,283 terms defined in 1,311 pages of small print, there's a lot of information in there.

It offers clear definitions written in plain English with minimal use of jargon. When Newton does use jargon in a definition, it'll be clear from the context what he means, and the jargon will also most likely be defined elsewhere in the dictionary. To be fair, I wouldn't even call this jargon, rather I'd call it a specialized term properly used.

Some of the definitions are short, others are very long, and can in fact be called introductory essays on a variety of topics. You want to know what Interim Interswitch Signal Protocol is? It's in there. The precise spefications for T-1 lines? They're in there. Quick descriptions of all the registered jacks, from RJ-11, to RJ-41S, to RJ-45, etc. They're in there. An in depth essay explaining what is a Virtual Private Network (VPN)? In there.

Very useful, very compact. Recommended.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo