ABSTRACT

The development and implementation of standards is a requirement for the widespread growth and

adaptation of the Internet and all the protocols it uses. In the late 1970s, the International Standards

Organization (ISO) initiated efforts to develop a network communications standard based on open

systems architecture theories from which other networked systems could be designed. The move from

stand-alone mainframe systems to a networked infrastructure was underway and standards had to be

developed to allow systems from one company to effectively communicate with systems from another

company using intermediary networking devices developed by yet another company.