eBusiness Essentials, 2nd Edition: Technology and Network Requirements for Mobile and Online Markets (Wiley-BT Series)

By necessity, much of the book is about the Net, though intranets and private trading networks such as EDI are covered. Open standards, including UML for business modelling, XML for data interchange, LDAP for directory services, VPN as a replacement for private networks and so on are defined and their uses explained. Though the Net is built on open standards, the authors also effectively demonstrate why e-businesses might choose proprietary standards to provide business specific features, for example, choosing Microsoft's PPTP protocol over the Net's SMTP for back end messaging in a closed environment.

It isn't all sweetness and light. Attention is given to securing your business from the risks involved in working online, all the way from protecting your data and business against accidents to protecting it against malicious individuals. There's even a section on the risks involved when companies with incompatible business systems mate.

E-Business Solutions is readable, lucid and authoritative--some poor subbing aside. "Business acumen rules, technology serves," write its authors, summing up their approach. This is a book for managers who want to familiarise themselves with the toolkit available to implement a business idea.--Steve Patient