What is a Standard?

• A standard is an agreed upon method of design, behavior, or communication

• Examples from everyday life:

• • We drive on the right side of the road (at least in North America)
  • You turn a screw left to make come out, right to make it go in
  • You can connect your DVD player to your TV with an component video cable

• Communications networks require standards for equipment from different vendors to interoperate

• The Internet requires the use of the TCP/IP protocol suite by all hosts that connect to it

• • This includes hundreds of protocols, but not every single one is required

• Internet standards made by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) are meant to be “open”:

• • Public design and review processes
  • No licensing fees
  • No royalties
  • Copies are free to download
  • These goals are not always met for a number of reasons…