OSI protocols

The Open Systems Interconnection protocols are a family of information exchange standards developed jointly by the ISO and the ITU-T. The standardization process began in 1977. The Open Systems Interconnection protocols are a family of information exchange standards developed jointly by the ISO and the ITU-T. The standardization process began in 1977. While the seven-layer OSI model is often used as a reference for teaching and documentation, the protocols originally conceived for the model did not gain popularity, and only X.400, X.500, and IS-IS have achieved lasting impact. The goal of an open-standard protocol suite instead has been met by the Internet protocol suite, maintained by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The OSI protocol stack is structured into seven conceptual layers. The layers form a hierarchy of functionality starting with the physical hardware components to the user interfaces at the software application level. Each layer receives information from the layer above, processes it and passes it down to the next layer. Each layer adds encapsulation information (header) to the incoming information before it is passed to the lower layer. Headers generally include address of source and destination, error control information, protocol identification and protocol parameters such as flow control options and sequence numbers.