A veteran in telecommunications, networking, and information- technology architecture, Minoli describes developments and technologies at the nanometer scale that have the potential to be used, or are already being used, in communications and networking environments. Among them are faster and smaller non-silicon-based processors, faster and smaller switches, and micro-electro-mechanical systems. His arrangement, however, is by field rather than function: chapters cover the underlying physics and chemistry of nanotechnology; nanotubes, nanomaterials, and processing; photonics; and electronics. This is an introduction, he says, to a field that is just emerging.