OVERALL HANDBOOK

Email from Professor Seon Cho, Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

"Your latest works on e-Business and Distributed Systems is just FANTASTIC. It appears to be culmination and synthesis of all of your works in the past including "Client Servers in the Internet Environment" and "Re-engineering of Applications". I am very much impressed with your approaches in the following areas.
1. Organized and explained high quality distributed systems on the basis of live case analysis.
2. Focused on behaviors of what IT and Application architects do, rather than explaining theories or algorithms.
3. Organization of high quality tutorial on what knowledge and skills that IT architect must acquire in relation to rounding up his or her competencies in architecuring of e-Business and enterprise applications. "

OVERVIEW MODULE

Customer Review Posted on Amazon.com

[5 out of 5 stars] Excellent Overview of an Excellent Handbook, June 26, 2003
Reviewer: Adam Ergon from Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

This paperback gives an excellent overview of the technical as well as strategic issues in e-business and distributed systems. It sets the stage for all other modules of the handbook (applications, architectures, integration, networks, middleware, platforms, and management)through several real life case studies and examples. The preface very nicely shows several course examples where the modules can be used and points to the instructor material that is available from the author site. The first chapter starts with a discussion of strategic issues in e-business and shows how the latest distributed computing technologies enable these strategies. The discussion of Real-Time enterprises is well placed in the discussion. The second chapter contains many case studies and examples to highlight the practical issues.

The same practical style, helped with numerous diagrams and examples continues in all modules. The modules are quite inexpensive and rich with well written content. GREAT WORK.

APPLICATIONS MODULE

Customer Review Posted on Amazon.com
[5 out of 5 stars] A Great Discussion of eBusiness Applications, June 29, 2003
Reviewer: Adam Ergon from Salt lake City, Utah

This is a well written and very practical treatment of e-business applications. The key concepts are defined clearly and the main ideas are well illustrated through numerous diagrams, tables, and examples. The chapters are long but carry the discussion logically -- the author highlights the important points and breaks up the discussion with review questions that I found quite refreshing. The topics and tone of discussion is for practitioners but is quite suitable for independent learning or classroom teaching (the material is based on courses taught by the author.

I like the layout. First few chapters give a very clear discussion of e-business strategies and link them to real-time enterprises, eMarkets, ERPs, CRMs, ASPs, eProcurement, supply chains, portals, mobile applications, data warehouses, data mining, and all other good names we hear about. The material in first 2 chapters is compact and in my view contains more useful information than some of the books on e-business. To complete the discussion, the author devotes an excellent and practical chapter to a step-by-step planning methodology that puts all the pieces together. This is followed by a very good and quick overview chapter on IT infrastructure and its role in converting e-business strategies into reality. The concluding chapter covers state of the art, market, and practice in EB apps. Very nice.

I have read Umar's past books and am impressed by his depth and breadth of knowledge. This module and the other modules of this handbook demonstrate that he has mastered the art of presenting complex and confusing issues clearly and completely.
The price is surprisingly low for the value.

MIDDLEWARE MODULE

Customer Review Posted on Amazon.com

[5 out of 5 stars] A well-structured overview for the novice, June 20, 2003
Reviewer: Harry Dhillon from Avenel, NJ

Dr. Umar tested this module, and companion modules, in a class of his which I took in graduate school. While I was a professional student familiar with most of the topics at some level, I noticed he did an excellent job of providing a structured overview of the middleware technology landscape in the Middleware module. In particular, I liked the fact that he went beyond descriptions of systems and services to also look at practical issues like tradeoffs among different middleware technologies relative to specific types of applications. Also, the writing and visual style is at a pleasant enough level that you don't get lost in the complexities associated with all technologies. If you're new to the middleware area, and desire an initial broad brush overview, I highly recommend this module, especially given its reasonable price. Once you're done with it, you can confidently venture to other more detailed (and expensive) texts to investigate a specific topic, without losing the topic's context in the general scheme of things.

NETWORKS MODULE

Customer Review Posted on Amazon.com

[5 out of 5 stars] Ideal book to understanding the Internet and IP networks, June 10, 2003
Reviewer: SSP from NYC, NY, USA

What is the Internet? How does it work? Why is it so important? These questions can be very confusing to someone without a computer science or IT background. After reading this Networks module, I feel I finally have a very good understanding of the power of the IP networks. I highly recommend this module to anyone with an iota of curiosity about the Internet.

Although it's not breezy reading, even as a business school student I had little trouble with the technical explanations. Dr. Umar uses real-world examples. In fact, the information is so practical that now I know the actual meaning behind terms such as Ethernet, LAN's, WAN's, MAN's, NIC, RJ45, cable modems, DSL, T1, T3, optical fiber, ATM Frame relay, etc. The module also covers Voice Over IP and the inevitable convergence of voice and data - no wonder phone companies are running scared. In addition, wireless technologies, cellular phones and 3G are also addressed.

I was mostly interested in distributed networks but the module also covered IBM's SNA and token ring networks reflecting Dr. Umar's experience with Big Blue's "big iron" mainframes. Nonetheless, it was still valuable information.