Book excerpt: Addressing the major issues involved in network design and architectures, this text deals primarily with systems and application as related to network system design; it also provides tutorials and surveys and relates new important research results. The intent is to provide a set of tools based on current research that will enable readers to overcome difficulties with the design and construction of communications and computer networks. Each chapter provides background information, describes and analyzes important work done in the field and provides important direction to the reader on future work and further readings. This book may be purchased as a set with its companion volume, Network Performance Modeling and Simulation, edited by Jean Walrand, Kallol Bagchi, and George W. Zobrist.