Rating: 
Summary: Cisco for NonGeeks
Review: This book puts Cisco, the Internet and networking overall into the glass from which everyone can drink. I highly recommend it to Information Security professionals who need a foundation of knowledge on networking. Any non-technical manager who wants to understand networking terms..read this. The explanation on training tracks is excellent also.
Rating:
Summary: Superb in all respects
Review: This book was really a joy to read. It is one of the best MIS/IT books I've ever seen, and maybe the best. The book is very well written and the coverage of the material is extremely thorough and broad considering how much there is to know about all this and how big the field has become. I would recommend you read this book to get all the great information and background it offers before tackling any of the actual Cisco certification books. There is just too much important information, and useful information, in this book that is missing in the more specific certification books, which of course are necessarily focused only on what you need to know to pass the exam. If you're already cramming for one of the exams, I would still buy this book and use it as a study companion. It offers a much broader perspective on the entire networking field, which is useful because the certification books tend to lose the forest for the trees. As I said, the overall coverage is really phenomenal. For example, in addition to the usual chapters covering hubs, switches and routers, the author also discusses such topics as SANS (storage area networks) and CDNs (content-delivery networks), both of which are becoming increasingly important. Also, there is a large section discussing firewalls and how they operate in general, and then the author goes on to discuss Cisco's own PIX firewall solutions. Not satisfied with that, Velte also provides an excellent chapter on WANs, an area where the technology and the strategies are very different from the typical intranetwork designed with switches and routers. The subject of WANs leads naturally into a discussion of VPNs (virtual private networks), another area that is becomming increasingly important because of the substantial savings over that of the traditional WAN. It's becoming so important, in fact, that Velte mentions one expert who says that VPNs will completely replace the more expensive WAN technology and that WANs will completely vanish in the next few years. In addition to all the above things, Velte also has a nice review of networking essentials, and there is a long chapter detailing the entire Cisco certification track, which discusses the different tests, certifications, tracks, and so on. There are so many of these now that keeping track of them now requires a chapter like this. Finally, the author has a lot of great information about the entire line of Cisco routers and switches. You'll notice that in the certification books they tend to concentrate on a much more limited number of models. In the Sybex Switches book I have, the book focuses almost exclusively on the 5000 and 1900 models, with occasional references to some of the others. For example, Velte mentions that the enormous routers that handle the internet traffic are the Cisco 12000 series, the most powerful of which is capable of processing 60 billion bits of information per second, something that the typical Cisco and network support person running a company's intranetwork is probably never going to see. All in all a really great book and well worth the price.
Rating: 
Summary: True beginners Guide.
Review: This book was the first step towards my CCNA certification. If you have no internetworking experience this is a great guide to get you started. The author present material in readable way. I would say that you would not be able to pass the exam on this book only.
Rating:
Summary: good beginning book
Review: This is a good introduction book to Cisco, their hardware, software (operation system ie- IOS), and networking in general. I would NOT recommend this as a study guide for the CCNA test but as a beginning point for the test. The organization was a little different and definentely doesnt follow the objectives for the test.
Rating: 
Summary: Medium book
Review: This is an OK book, not as great as everyone says. Not good at all if you are pursuing Cisco Ceritificaion unless you use this simply just to start out and then buy another guide that does what this book does anyway's.
Rating:
Summary: Best Cisco Introduction book
Review: This is my first Cisco book, summarises Cisco's 2.5" huge Product Catalogue in a nutshell. And this is a comment from an IT (non network) manager. Someone had recommended Ballew's/O'Reilly's book but unfortunately dropped it halfway through when this book came out. Cisco recent announcements to go global means expansion into WAN internetworking, AVVID, etc. So could Tom continue into a second volume, with more practical and deeper issues, case studies, and even comparisons with other vendors (ie Nortel, Lucent, Extreme etc) ? Cannot think any reader not giving this book 5 stars. This is for non technicians as much as Lammle is to CCNA and CCDA certification. It's particularly precious in this part of the world where up to date English IT books are a rarity. Good stuff and well done.
Rating:
Summary: Best Cisco Introduction book
Review: This is my first Cisco book, summarises Cisco's 2.5" huge Product Catalogue in a nutshell. And this is a comment from an IT (non network) manager. Someone had recommended Ballew's/O'Reilly's book but unfortunately dropped it halfway through when this book came out. Cisco recent announcements to go global means expansion into WAN internetworking, AVVID, etc. So could Tom continue into a second volume, with more practical and deeper issues, case studies, and even comparisons with other vendors (ie Nortel, Lucent, Extreme etc) ? Cannot think any reader not giving this book 5 stars. This is for non technicians as much as Lammle is to CCNA and CCDA certification. It's particularly precious in this part of the world where up to date English IT books are a rarity. Good stuff and well done.
Rating:
Summary: Simply The Best
Review: This is one of the best books for beginners and professionals alike. If you buy one book this year this should be the one.
Rating:
Summary: Great starting point for routing basics with Cisco!
Review: This is one of the few books on networking that I found hard to put down. As each chapter went by, I felt more enlightened regarding my knowledge with the vast array of Cisco products including hubs, switches and routers. Wanting to persue a CCNA this was the perfect book to keep me energized and help clarify many grey areas in relation to VLANS, VPN and many other Internetworking acronyms. How the authors had the patience and time to put all this knowledge and documentation into one book is beyond me. Congrats Osborne on an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and extremely informative
Review: This is the book I have been looking for. It is not a CCNA test prep. It IS a concise and informative reference into routing and transmission protocols. It covers everything you need to know to understand the way routers and the internet actually work. I found the book easy to read and very concise in the material covered. If you are looking to learn about the internet and how routers and routing works, then this book is a great start.
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