Standards are important
| "The nice thing about standards is that there
are so many to choose from" |
| Andrew S. Tanenbaum |
- Standards exist for all layers of networking.
- Standards permit new networking hardware to still interact with old,
old hardware to interact with not-yet-released hardware,
and can provide choice.
- Standards encourage compatibility between
hardware manufacturers and software.
- Primary groups include
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer (IEEE),
Comité Consultatif International
Téléphonique et
Télégraphique (CCITT),
the Internet Engineering Taskforce (IETF).
- Standards available as either official documents,
which often have to be purchased (e.g. from the IEEE),
or freely available online
(e.g. online Internet Request For Comments, RFCs).
Layers are important
- Layered protocols encourage the adoption of standards.
- The number of layers is not too important,
although many write that the TCP/IP suite has too few.
- While the ISO/OSI model defines 7 layers,
it's often argued that the additional layers of
security, ethics, politics and money
have the greater effects.
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