For Immediate Release
September 14, 2001
For more information, a review copy, cover art or an interview with
the author, contact:
Kathryn Barrett (707) 829-0515 ext 387 or kathrynb@oreilly.com 



T1 SURVIVAL--NOT JUST FOR THE FITTEST ANYMORE


Sebastopol, CA--At first glance, T1 appears to be an awkward technology
with all the flash and excitement of indoor plumbing. The second glance 
is not much better: T1, the current network standard for business and
professional Internet access is neither efficient, easy to use, nor
particularly well suited to data transmission. Yet, like indoor
plumbing, it's pretty pervasive and hard to imagine doing without.

That's where the similarity ends. Plumbing is relatively easy to
understand, but T1 technology, while widespread, poses many challenges
to the network administrator who must deal with it on a regular basis.
As Matthew Gast, author of "T1: A Survival Guide" (O'Reilly US $29.95)
explains, "Most network administrators have learned to use T1 by a
retrograde system of unofficial apprenticeship and by painstakingly
assembling numerous disjointed nuggets of information into a
mostly-coherent whole. It is not a process that inspires an
understanding of the big picture or the practical details."

According to Gast, T1 is a technology that was originally developed by
AT&T to increase the capacity of the national telephone network in the
1960s. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, it began to be used to transmit
data. Now, nearly all new T1 installations are used for data
networking, and many of those are for the purpose of providing Internet
connectivity. "Problems with the T-carrier hierarchy stem from one
simple fact: T-carrier systems were designed for AT&T's voice network,"
explains Gast. "They can be used to transport data, but the adaptation
to this use is not always a clean one."

In today's world, T1 lines are the standard for dedicated business
Internet connectivity. They function as the veins and arteries that
carry Internet traffic to its destination. In spite of its limitations,
T1 is a proven, reliable technology that currently meets the need for
medium-speed, high reliability Internet access by institutions of many
sizes, and it's likely to be around for a while. "T1: A Survival Guide"
supplies the practical information that network administrators need to
understand how to work with this central technology.

"The way our industry has taught network administrators to use T1 has
been medieval at best," says Gast. "Existing material on T1 tended to
suffer from one of two problems: it would get caught up in the
engineering details and lose sight of the big picture, or it would
ignore what new installations were used for. In either case, network
administrators were left to suffer in darkness and ignorance. Very
little of the existing written material on T1 is practical or suited
for data network administrators." The knowledge needed to work with T1
is specialized and hard to come by in the outside world. "T1: A
Survival Guide" brings together in one reference all the information
network administrators will need to set up, test, and troubleshoot T1,
including how to deal with routers, serial links, smart jacks, and
more. A glossary of telecom terms helps administrators "speak the
language" of the phone company when diagnosing and fixing T1 problems.
This practical guide covers the following broad topics:

-What components are needed to build a T1 line, and how those
components interact to transmit data effectively 
-How to use standardized link layer protocols to adapt the T1 physical
layer to work with data networks 
-How to troubleshoot problems and work with the telephone company,
equipment manufacturers, and Internet service providers

"T1: A Survival Guide" will be useful to all network administrators who
have any degree of responsibility for T1 lines. This diverse group
includes smaller start-up companies using T1 connectivity, large
companies employing a network of T1 lines, and service providers who do
not use the lines directly but provide service over T1 to their
customers (this group can be divided into telephone companies that
provide T1 lines and Internet service providers that offer Internet
connectivity over T1). A much needed resource, "T1: A Survival Guide"
aims to take the guesswork out of using T1 as a data transport.


Chapter 5, "Timing, Clocking, and Synchronization in the T-carrier
System," is available free online at:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/t1survival/chapter/ch05.html

For more information about the book, including Table of Contents,
index, author bio, and samples, see:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/t1survival/

For a cover graphic in jpeg format, go to:
ftp://ftp.ora.com/pub/graphics/book_covers/hi-res/0596001274.jpg 

T1: A Survival Guide
By Matthew Gast
September 2001
ISBN 0-596-00127-4, 288 pages, $29.95 (US)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
http://www.oreilly.com

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