2. Network Protocols & Standards

In general, the word 'protocol' means an agreed set of rules of how to do something.

A network protocol is an agreed way of how to communicate over a network.

As we said, a protocol is a set of rules.

However, in order for networking protocols to be adopted for use, world-wide, they have to be formalised as a global standard.

This is done by organisations such as the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Once a standard has been formally developed, hardware manufacturers, network engineers, programmers, etc will all follow the same standard. Which ultimately means that they are all able to communicate across the same network, whether they are in the North Pole or Australia.