Understanding the network.pdf - Back to Home

Figure 1.14. The OSI and Internet reference models.
Unfortunately, although TCP/IP was free and had a large support and user base, it
was limited as a reference model for the whole data communication process. So, in
1984, the ISO fulfilled part of the dream and replaced the Internet-RM with OSI-RM
(refer to Figure 1.13). What makes the OSI-RM so important is that, from the
beginning, it was supposed to be the "networking" standard. It addresses each step
of the communication process from the cable up. The OSI effort was international in
scope and had the Herculean task of creating a model and a set of protocols to meet
a wide community of users, quite unlike TCP/IP and the Internet-RM, which were
created to address the needs of ARPANET. Over time, the OSI-RM became the
standard context in which all of the previous network communication protocols are
compared and discussed. Although the ISO protocol suite does not share the
success that its reference model has, it is important to note that the majority of
network communication protocols are still widely used today.