until recently, communication systems played a minor supporting role in the evolution of computing from mainframes to minis to pcs and servers; today, they are an integral part of almost every aspect of computing, from distributed applications to the internet. even experts have trouble keeping up with all of the latest developments in a field that is growing and changing so rapidly. recognizing the need for researchers and practitioners in all information technology fields to keep up with the state of the art in communications, ifips technical committee on communication systems, tc6, assembled a world-class roster of individual area experts to present a comprehensive state of the art in communication systems programme at the 17th world computer congress, which was sponsored by the international federation for information processing (ifip) and held in montréal, québec, canada in august 2002. communication systems: the state of the art captures the depth and breadth of the field of communication systems: -architectures and protocols for distributed systems; -network and internetwork architectures; -performance of communication systems; -internet applications engineering; -management of networks and distributed systems; -smart networks; -wireless communications; -communication systems for developing countries; -photonic networking; -communication systems in electronic commerce. this volumes scope and authority present a rare opportunity for people in many different fields to gain a practical understanding of where the leading edge in communication systems lies today-and where it will be tomorrow.
