IEEE Standards

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a professional organization that develops standards for various industries, including the field of computer networking. IEEE standards provide a common framework and language for communication, allowing different devices and systems to work together seamlessly.

IEEE has developed a family of standards for computer networking known as the IEEE 802 standards. This family of standards covers a wide range of topics related to local and metropolitan area networks, including Ethernet, wireless networking, network security, and more. Here is a brief overview of some of the IEEE 802 standards, from 802.1 :

• IEEE 802.1: This standard defines a set of protocols and procedures for the operation of local area networks (LANs) and metropolitan area networks (MANs), including protocols for network management, link aggregation, and virtual LANs (VLANs).
• IEEE 802.3: This standard defines the Ethernet protocol, which is widely used for local area networking. It specifies the physical and data link layers of the protocol, including the different data rates and transmission media that can be used.
• IEEE 802.4: This standard defines the token bus network access method, which is a type of token passing protocol used in local area networks (LANs). The standard specifies the rules for transmitting data over a shared medium in a token bus network, where a token is passed from one node to another to grant the right to transmit data.
• IEEE 802.5: This is a standard for Token Ring Local Area Networks (LANs). It was developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1985 and is now considered obsolete, having been largely replaced by Ethernet-based LANs.
• IEEE 802.11: This standard defines the Wi-Fi protocol, which is used for wireless local area networking. It specifies the physical and data link layers of the protocol, including different frequency bands, data rates, and security mechanisms.
• IEEE 802.15: This standard defines a set of wireless personal area network (WPAN) standards, including Bluetooth and Zigbee.
• IEEE 802.16: This standard defines the WiMAX protocol, which is used for wireless metropolitan area networking.
• IEEE 802.1X: This standard defines a framework for network access control, allowing administrators to control which devices can access a network and what resources they can access.
• IEEE 802.11i: This standard defines security mechanisms for Wi-Fi networks, including encryption and authentication protocols.
• IEEE 802.3ad: This standard defines link aggregation protocols, allowing multiple Ethernet links to be combined into a single logical link for increased bandwidth and redundancy.

These are just a few examples of the many IEEE 802 standards that have been developed over the years. Each standard is designed to address a specific aspect of computer networking, and together they form the basis for many of the networks we use today.