Protocol Suites and Industry Standards

A protocol suite is a set of protocols that work together to provide comprehensive network communication services. A protocol suite may be specified by a standards organization or developed by a vendor. Protocol suites, like the four shown in the figure, can be a bit overwhelming. However, this course will only cover the protocols of the TCP/IP protocol suite.
The TCP/IP protocol suite is an open standard, meaning these protocols are freely available to the public, and any vendor is able to implement these protocols on their hardware or in their software.
A standards-based protocol is a process that has been endorsed by the networking industry and approved by a standards organization. The use of standards in developing and implementing protocols ensures that products from different manufacturers can interoperate successfully. If a protocol is not rigidly observed by a particular manufacturer, their equipment or software may not be able to successfully communicate with products made by other manufacturers.
Some protocols are proprietary which means one company or vendor controls the definition of the protocol and how it functions. Examples of proprietary protocols are AppleTalk and Novell Netware, which are legacy protocol suites. It is not uncommon for a vendor (or group of vendors) to develop a proprietary protocol to meet the needs of its customers and later assist in making that proprietary protocol an open standard.
For example, click here to view a video presentation by Bob Metcalfe describing the story of how Ethernet was developed.

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