Cornerstone Issue 1: October 5, 1997
We invite you to review the inaugural issue of Cornerstone,
an electronic newsletter we plan to issue periodically.
[If you do not wish to receive future issues, please reply with
the word "remove" in the subject line or message body. We
apologize for inconveniencing you.]
Some industry newsletters focus on a particular technology or field of
interest. Others presume that you will be interested in every topic
"pushed" your way. Our newsletter is different from these, by accident
more so than intent!
The scope of the projects we perform at Core Competence reflects the
diverse talents and interests of Lisa Phifer and David Piscitello,
our principle consultants. With a broad range of topics to report about,
we can't presume you are as enthusiastic about each field of interest
as we are, so we have elected to push annotated URLs instead.
Each URL we cite is followed by a brief abstract that explains what you
will find if you choose to visit the URL.
Between issues, we invite you to visit our Technology Corner at
http://www.corecom.com/html/technology_corner.html
where you'll find white papers, evaluations, reports, and book reviews.
We hope you choose to visit some of these links, and we look forward
to comments from you.
Thank you,
============================
In this issue, we invite you to read about
http://www.corecom.com/html/goamerica.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/pocketnet.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/pcspaper.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/gigabit.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/isdn_book.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/digeval.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/visual.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/speed.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/silence.html
http://www.interop.com/peertopeer/spam.html [NO LONGER ON-LINE]
http://www.corecom.com/Software
http://www.corecom.com/html/mccabe.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/websec.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/uibook.html
Dave Piscitello & Lisa Phifer
WIRELESS and MOBILE NETWORK COMPUTING:
"GoAmerica Wireless Data Services"
Lisa Phifer tells road warriors what to expect when traveling with a
laptop and roaming the Internet over wireless data services provided
by GoAmerica and RAM Mobile Data.
"AT&T Wireless PocketNet Phone and Wireless Data Services"
Dave Piscitello no longer carries a laptop but still accesses email
and the web on the road (literally!) using a smartphone and AT&T's
PocketNet.
"Towards an open, industry standard mobile network computing architecture"
Dave Piscitello and Michael Kramer, Bellcore describe an
OS-independent architecture designed to accommodate wireless
Internet access and mobile network computing that is appropriate for
use with smartphones, PDA's, HPC's, laptops, even desktop PC's.
This paper is also available in postscript format from:
http://www.airboss.com:9080/doc/pcs97white.ps
GIGABIT ETHERNET:
"Gigabit Ethernet: A Core Competence, Inc. Industry Report"
Dave Piscitello provides a technology overview of Gigabit Ethernet,
and provides a short-list of players and products.
RESIDENTIAL ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES:
"ISDN Clearly Explained"
Dave and Lisa join Ed Tittel and Steve James as authors of this
second edition book published by Academic Press. "ISDN Clearly
Explained" shares lessons learned from our hands-on testing and
certification experience with dozens of ISDN routers, bridges,
cards, and TAs.
PRODUCT EVALUATIONS:
http://www.corecom.com/html/dmmeval.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/ibmeval.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/moteval.html
http://www.corecom.com/html/usreval.html
"ISDN PC Modem Product Evaluations"
Lisa Phifer reviews a collection of popular ISDN ISA cards and TAs
for use with Windows 95 PCs, including products from Digi
International, Diamond Multimedia, IBM, Motorola, and USR.
"Visual Networks WAN Support System"
Core Competence evaluates an innovative service level management
package from Visual Networks. This report highlights the features
and applicability of a product that enables Frame Relay users to
proactively monitor WAN performance. Troubleshooting and realtime
analysis tools are what make this product one of the most
promising we've seen.
MONTHLY COLUMNS PUBLISHED AT INTEROP ONLINE:
"The Need For Speed And The Copper Wire"
Lisa Phifer's column at Interop Online provides an technical
overview of residential remote access technologies: 56K analog,
ISDN, xDSL, and cable.
"Silence of the ATM LANs"
Dave Piscitello's column at Interop Online contrasts the fast-track
to product taken by Gigabit Ethernet to the rocky road taken by ATM.
"spam, Spam, SPAM"
Dave Piscitello's latest column at Interop Online investigates
the cost and inconvenience of Internet Spam.
SOFTWARE:
"Core Competence Announces The Software CORner"
Visit our new web site and download a free copy of our first
shareware product, NetHelper, a network diagnostic and
trouble-shooting utility for Windows 95 and NT 4.0.
BOOK REVIEWS:
"Practical Computer Network Analysis and Design", by James McCabe
Dave Piscitello's Foreword to James Mccabe's book is reproduced
on line. This book is an outstanding work.
"The Web Security Sourcebook", by Rubin Aviel, Dan Geer, & Marcus Ranum
Dave Piscitello's review of this book on how to build secure
intranets, extranets, and how to conduct secure electronic commerce.
The book is as good as the reputation of the authors is large!
"The Elements Of User Interface Design", by Theo Mandel
Lisa Phifer reviews this essential handbook for interface designers
and developers. Whether you're architecting a traditional GUI,
laying out a website, or simply want to learn more about why you
love or hate your desktop applications, this book is insightful.