Novices to PKI will gain an understanding of the many issues that exist in deploying and employing a PKI. The book makes no assumption about the reader's technical knowledge level, providing a brief introduction to the underlying cryptography, policy issues, and motivation for the use of PKI.
Planners and system architects will learn about the crucial points that make the difference between a successful deployment of a PKI and one that only yields many lessons learned. In fact, "Planning for PKI" gives several concrete examples of existing PKI deployments and lists the lessons learned from those deployments. This is a real advantage for future deployments, allowing much time to be saved. The lessons learned alone are worth more than the price of the book.
Software developers will also find this book useful. In a single volume, it gathers the authors extensive knowledge of the PKI standards development in the IETF and elsewhere. Many subtle points about the PKIX RFCs are liberally sprinkled throughout the book. These nuggets provide insight into the intent of some of the esoteric topics in the RFCs and can assist the developer in producing an interoperable product or deployment.
The language used in the book is plain and direct. Where useful, simple diagrams and ASN.1 fragments are given. The ASN.1 fragments are well-annotated so that an understanding of ASN.1 is not required to comprehend what is being presented. (And for those interested in ASN.1, there is a brief primer in the back of the book.)
The real value of the book is the succinct (relative to the actual PKI standards and body of literature) gathering of the current state-of-the art in PKI into one tome. It covers the gamut from PKI history to future developments. Appropriate and accessible to a wide range of readers, "Planning for PKI" gets my hearty endorsement.
For the CIO, it provides wonderful examples of how PKI can benefit your organization.
For engineers and techies that it provides the nuts and bolts of Public Key Infrastructure, (CP and CPS development, public key encryption ,Architecture, CRLs, Cross Certification, Applications, etc.)
It is truely a credit to the authors, and I would recommend it to anyone who has even the smallest bit of interest in PKI.