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.
