Data Communications Networking Devices - 4th Ed.pdf

62 _______________________________ FUNDAMENTAL WIDE AREA NETWORKING CONCEPTSsupporting local area networking. This standard will be covered in Chapter 3 whenwe focus our attention upon LANs.FIPSAs a result of US Public Law 89-306 the Brooks Act) which directed the Secretaryof the Department of Commerce to make recommendations to the Presidentconcerning uniform data processing standards,that agency developed a computerstandardization program. Since Public Law 89-306 did not cover telecommunications,theenactment of Public Law 99-500,known as the Brooks Act Amendment,expanded the de®nition of automatic data processing ADP) to include certainaspects related to telecommunications. FIPS,an acronym for Federal InformationProcessing Standards,are the indirect result of Public Law 89-306 and is the termapplied to standards developed under the US government's computer standardizationprogram.FIPS speci®cations are drafted by the National Institute of Standards andTechnology NIST),formerly known as the National Bureau of Standards NBS).Approximately 100 FIPS have been adopted,ranging in scope from the ASCIIcode to the Hollerith punched card code and such computer languages as COBOLand FORTRAN. Most FIPS have an ANSI national counterpart. The keydifference between FIPS and their ANSI counterparts is that applicable FIPSmust be met for the procurement,management and operation of ADP and telecommunicationsequipment by federal agencies,whereas commercial organizationsin the private sector can choose whether or not to obtain equipment that complieswith appropriate ANSI standards.IEEEThe Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers IEEE) is a US-basedengineering society that is very active in the development of data communicationsstandards. In fact,the most prominent developer of local area networking standardsis the IEEE,whose subcommittee 802 began its work in 1980 prior to theestablishment of a viable market for the technology.The IEEE Project 802 efforts are concentrated upon the physical interface ofequipment and the procedures and functions required to establish,maintain andrelease connections among network devices to include de®ning data formats,errorcontrol procedures and other control activities governing the ¯ow of information.This focus of the IEEE actually represents the lowest two layers of the ISO model,physical and data link,which are discussed later in this section and in more detailin Chapter 3.BSIThe British Standards Institution BSI) is the national standards body of theUnited Kingdom. In addition to drafting and promulgating British NationalStandards,BSI is responsible for representing the United Kingdom at ISO and