About the Authors

Jim Doherty is the director of marketing and programs with Symbol Technologies' industry solutions group. Prior to joining Symbol, Jim worked at Cisco Systems, where he led various marketing campaigns for IP telephony and routing and switching solutions. Jim has 17 years of engineering and marketing experience across a broad range of networking and communications technologies. Jim is the co-author of the Networking Simplified series of books, including Cisco Networking Simplified, Home Networking Simplified, and Internet Phone Services Simplified. He is also the author of the "Study Notes" section of CCNA Flash Cards and Exam Practice Pack (CCNA Self-Study, Exam #640-801), Second Edition. Jim is a former Marine Corps sergeant; he holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University and an MBA from Duke University.

Neil Anderson is the senior manager of enterprise systems engineering with Cisco Systems. Neil has more than 20 years of broad engineering experience, including public telephone systems, mobile phone systems, Internet, and home networking. At Cisco, Neil's focus is on large corporate customers in the areas of routing and switching, wireless, security, and IP communications. Neil is the co-author of the Networking Simplified series of books including, Home Networking Simplified and Internet Phone Services Simplified. Neil holds a bachelor of science degree in computer science.

About the Illustrator

Nathan Clement declared himself an illustrator a little more than three years ago. Nathan holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in art and writing, which launched a surprise career in publishing, design, and art direction. His major roles have been owning a printing company, designing books in-house at Macmillan Computer Publishing, and serving as art director for an ad agency. Through these little adventures, he decided to get back to his art roots and keep both feet planted in the publishing world as an illustrator. He has been pleased to illustrate three previous books in the Cisco Press Networking Simplified series and has done work for Que Publishing, Macromedia Press, Peachpit Press, Prentice Hall, and ESPN The Magazine. He lives with his wife, Greta, a nurse practitioner, in Indianapolis and also pursues children's book illustration with paint and brushes. Contact Nathan at [e-mail].

About the Technical Reviewers

Doug Foster works in the area of packet voice, video, and data convergence. With 30 years of experience for companies such as Cisco Systems, John Deere, Alcatel, and private business, Doug has some interesting firsthand stories to tell about the evolution of the Internet. He has architected and helped install international networkssuch as the migration of John Deere's worldwide SNA business network into a multiprotocol intranet in the mid-1980s. As a result of that work, Doug was asked by the U.S. Department of Defense to speak at Interop '88 on "How John Deere builds tractors using TCP/IP." This was nearly a decade before most businesses began to leverage the value of the Internet and eCommerce applications. Most recently, Doug worked for Cisco Systems as one of its first enterprise voice consultants.

Doug has a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University and lives in Cary, North Carolina, with his wife, Cindy. When not busy with familydaughters, Erin and Amber; son-in-law, Jeremy; and grandson, Jakeor business (Convinsys, Performance Podcasts, and Idea Mechanics), Doug devotes his free time to writing his first book (Convince Me!) and to sea kayaking.

Bradley Mitchell works as a freelance writer on the About.com wireless/networking site. He has produced online content at About.com on home computer networking, wireless, and related topics for six years. Bradley is also a senior engineer at Intel Corporation. Over the past 12 years at Intel, he has served in various capacities for research and development of software and network systems. Bradley obtained his master's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois and his bachelor's degree from M.I.T.