Networking Industry Standards — IEEE - buaamer81/IT130-Networking-Wiki GitHub Wiki

📡 Networking Industry Standards — IEEE

📘 Overview

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a global organization that develops open standards for many areas of technology — including networking.

In February 1980, the IEEE formed the 802 Committee to take over the job of defining data networking standards. The name "802" comes from the date: 02/80.

The IEEE 802 family defines standards for frame structures, speeds, distances, media types, and protocols used in LANs and MANs​:contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}.

🧩 IEEE 802 Subcommittees

Working Group Focus Examples
802.1 LAN management, bridging, VLANs, port security 802.1D (Spanning Tree), 802.1Q (VLANs), 802.1X (port authentication)
802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC) Now inactive
802.3 Ethernet (wired LAN) 10BaseT, 100BaseTX, 1000BaseT
802.5 Token Ring (legacy) Now obsolete
802.11 Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax
802.15 Wireless Personal Area Networks Bluetooth
802.16 Broadband Wireless (WiMAX) Fixed wireless internet
802.17 Resilient Packet Ring (RPR) Carrier-grade networks
802.18 Technical Advisory Group Coordinates wireless spectrum policy
802.20 Mobile Broadband Wireless Access High-mobility wireless tech
802.22 Wireless Regional Area Networks Based on TV white space frequencies​:contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

🧪 IEEE in Action

IEEE standards ensure that devices from different vendors can interoperate reliably on the same network.

Examples:

  • Ethernet switches from Cisco and Netgear use IEEE 802.3.
  • Wi-Fi access points from TP-Link and Ubiquiti use IEEE 802.11ac or 802.11ax.

🧠 Exam Tip

Be able to match IEEE subcommittees with their technologies, especially:

  • 802.3 = Ethernet
  • 802.11 = Wi-Fi
  • 802.1X = Port-based access control
  • 802.1Q = VLAN tagging

🔁 Related Terms

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