A Data Encryption Standard (DES) variant that is still in use. 3DES uses an encryption key that is three times longer than that used by DES. See also DES.

"Third Generation Services" - A specification developed by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the third generation of mobile communications. Analog telephony was the first generation and digital PCS was the second. 3G offers data rates up to 384Kbps for a stationary radio or for a radio moving at pedestrian walking speed, 128Kbps in a moving car, and 2Mbps in fixed applications. 3G is intended to replace Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) which is an open, nonproprietary system dominating cellular technology in 2004. EV-DO (1x Evolution-Data Only) is the form of 3G that is most widely deployed in the United States. The potential for seamless roaming between Wi-Fi (Voice-over-WLAN) and the cellular telephone network is a capability that is often associated with 3G cellular services.

The IEEE 802.1 Working Group concerns itself with standards related to the overall architecture of Local- and Wide-Area networks. Legacy Layer 2 bridge technology (which has evolved into today's Layer 2 switch technology) originated with the 802.1d bridging standards. Traffic prioritization is defined in 802.1p and VLAN tagging is defined in 802.1q. Because the priority tag field and the VLAN identifier are elements of the same protocol header byte field it's common to speak of "802.1p/q VLAN tagging", and lump prioritization and VLAN segregation into a single concept. Another significant standard in the 802.1 family is 802.1X, the standards for Port Based Access Control into which RADIUS authentication falls. An access point that supports 802.1X and its protocol, Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), acts as the interface between a wireless client and an authentication server, such as a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) server, to which the access point communicates over the wired network

The 802.1 standards apply to all of the various physical implementations of LAN/WAN architecture, both wired and wireless. In this sense, the 802.1 standards form an umbrella over all of the other standards in the 802 family.

The IEEE 802.2 standards define a software interface between an underlying physical bit transfer mechanism (like Ethernet or wireless) and the device driver software operating above it. This interface is called Logical Link Control (LLC). The LLC portion of a data frame transmitted on a network identifies which software process is to handle the frame when it's received. LLC replaced the earlier Version 2 Ethernet "EtherType" value for wired Ethernet networks. The 802.2 header consists of the LLC sub-header (providing a software interface to the device driver stack "above") and the MAC (Medium Access Control) sub-layer that provides an interface to (typically) microcode in the physical transmit/receive hardware "below". This is a somewhat simplified explanation, but it suffices to present the general purpose for the 802.2 standards. In this way, not unlike 802.1, the 802.2 standards provides an umbrella standard over all the other wired and wireless standards in the 802 family.

These are the standards for wired Ethernet LANs. The 802.3 standard defines frame formats and physical bit transmission methods for legacy (and contemporary) Ethernet.

The 802.4 Working Group is disbanded. It defined a token-passing network architecture. Of historical note, the Arcnet network technology (circa 1985) was based on guidelines that were consistent with the 802.4 standards and it may be said that Arcnet was a derivative of 802.4 (although Arcnet was never an IEEE standard).

The most well known implementation of the 802.5 standard was the "IBM Token Ring" network system. 802.5 defines a token-passing LAN architecture. After a rise to popularity in many implementations in the early 1990's, 802.5 fell to obscurity. At its introduction the 4 Mbps and 16 Mbps Token Ring standard provided competition to the 1 Mbps Arcnet and 10 Mbps Ethernet of the day. As 802.3 Ethernet quickly evolved into the 100 Mbps version it left 802.5 behind in the marketplace. Today there are some vestigial remains of 802.5, with an introduction of 100 Mbps 802.5 in the late 1990's. No new 802.5 networks are being deployed and the limited manufacturing of 802.5 equipment (primarily by Madge Networks) fills the small demand for replacement parts in existing 802.5 networks.

Using a technology called "Distributed Queue Dual Bus", this standard defines counter-rotating fiber optic rings up to 30 miles in diameter for Metropolitan Area Networks supporting 150 Mbps data transfer rates.

802.7 defines "Recommended Practices for Broadband Local Area Networks". These are the standards used to define broadband Internet access over coaxial cable. The 802.14 standard Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification -DOCSIS has replaced 802.7 for contemporary cable broadband access.

Standards for fiber optic networks

Integrated Service LAN Interface

Interoperable LAN Security standards

The IEEE 802.11 working groups develop standards to specify an "over-the-air" interface between a wireless client and a base station or access point, as well as among wireless clients. The 802.11 standards can be compared to the IEEE 802.3 standard for Ethernet for wired LAN's. The IEEE 802.11 specifications address both the Physical (PHY) and Media Access Control (MAC) layers and are tailored to resolve compatibility issues between manufacturers of Wireless LAN equipment. The original 802.11 standard described a 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps wireless mechanism and included both radio as well as infrared connectivity. It wasn't until the introduction of the 802.11b standards (allowing data rates up to 11 Mbps) that Wi-Fi (as we know it) was really born. A number of the 802.11 working groups are separately described in this encyclopedia including: 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11c, 802.11e, 802.11f, and 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac

This is a physical layer specification (PHY) that provides the mechanism by which 802.11 can go from 1 and 2 Mbps up to 11 Mbps.

The 802.11c standard isn't talked about very much. It's incorporated into access points that function as bridges and the standards assure that correct bridge operations take place.

The 802.11d working group is responsible for extending all of the other 802.11 standards into countries that have different regulatory requirements than the United States. Each country has its own rules regarding the way radio frequencies are assigned. While there is (almost) universal acceptance of the allocation of frequencies for industrial, scientific, and medical use (the "ISM band"), the frequencies actually allocated for unlicensed Wi-Fi use differ. Consequently, situations arise such as the fact that 802.11b channels 1 through 11 are used in the United States, but 1 through 14 are in use in Japan.

The 802.11e working group is defining standards for supporting applications with Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. QoS is a term that embodies characteristics of a connection including available bandwidth, latency (delay) between data packets and between data and the expected acknowledgement for that data. Consider the different requirements for a wireless user checking their email, another that's watching a streaming video, and a third that's making a VoIP phone call. These three users would need different levels of bandwidth, throughput, and delay. 802.11e is creating both a set of protocol commands and replies to ask for, and be granted, different levels of service as well as defining the required capabilities of the equipment through which the connections will pass. QoS (Quality of Service) will be important for voice and multimedia transmission by describing error correction and bandwidth management to be used in 802.11a and 802.11b. There are two versions. EDCA (Enhanced Digital Control Access) mode, called WME (Wireless Multimedia Extensions), will become available first with certification testing planned starting Sept’04. WME defines eight levels of access priority and provides more access to higher-priority packets than to lower-priority packets but provides no bandwidth guarantees, and is probably best suited for one-way audio. HCCA (HCF Coordinated Channel Access), also known as WSM (Wireless Scheduled Multimedia), is a polled access method that includes WME and provides guaranteed bandwidth scheduling reservations. WSM is probably best suited for two-way streaming voice and video.

This working group has been given the task of defining the rules by which access points exchange information with each other. 802.11 wireless networks prior to 2004 depended on the switched infrastructure that was "in back" of the access points to provide correct packet forwarding when a mobile, roaming client moved from one access point's coverage into that of another. 802.11f defines how an access point should tell another access point that a client either just left the area, or that it just arrived.

These standards extend the transmission speed of 2.4 GHz transmitters to as high as 54 Mbps by defining a mechanism by which a data packet can be transmitted with an 802.11b-compliant header, followed by an optional packet payload that uses OFDM bit encoding to achieve more bits in each cycle of the transmitted frequency. Because 802.11g bits (OFDM) and 802.11b bits (non-OFDM) not only operate in the same frequency range, but also may originate from the same transmitter, the Request To Send / Clear To Send (RTS/CTS) mechanism was activated in 802.11g environments to keep the two types of signals from interfering with each other. The problem is that a station that only supports 802.11b will not "hear" the transmission from an 802.11g station unless there is something in the 802.11b bit format to notify everyone that a "g" conversation is about to begin. The RTS/CTS sequence, sent using the 802.11b bit encoding scheme, gets everyone to "be quite" while the "g" portion proceeds.

The 11h standards introduce Dynamic Channel Selection (DCS) and Transmit Power Control (TPC) for devices in the 5 GHz band (802.11a). In Europe there is a possibility that 802.11a radios may interfere with satellite communications and DCS is proposed as a way to automatically avoid such potential conflicts. Essentially, 802.11h is the same as the 802.11a standard but with the inclusion of DCS and TPC.

These standards provide strong encryption and authentication for Wi-Fi networks, correcting the early flaws with Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and allowing the design and deployment of a Wi-Fi network that is very secure. The early adoption of the core set of 802.11i standards was known as Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) and the now-finalized (June 2004) 802.11i standards are referred to as WPA-2.

The 802.11j amendment, approved in November, 2004, allows an 802.11 network to conform to the frequency rules for the 4.9 GHz (not available in the U.S). and 5 GHz bands in Japan. Prior to 2002, Japanese frequency allocation only allowed for channel 14 to be used in that country. In 2002, the Japanese government published new rules allowing channels 1 through 13 to be used instead. This amendment updates the 802.11 standard to conform to the new Japanese frequency allocation, giving manufacturers a standards-compliant way of making 802.11 equipment to sell in Japan. This amendment has little effect on 802.11 networks outside of Japan.

Radio Resource Management measurement interrogation standards for Access Points and clients to allow self-management and to auto-provision large networks. This standard introduces standardized data structures to allow a management system to acquire signal and noise metrics, channel use information, and client statistics from a wireless device. It also defines ways to discover "hidden nodes" and to control transmit power ("TCP", Transmit Power Control)

The designation "802.11l" (that's 802.11 followed by the letter L) is not used. The IEEE deemed this designation "typologically unsound" since the letter L could easily be mistaken for the number 1 (one).

A maintenance standard introducing updates to previous standards.

Finalized in October, 2009, the 802.11n standard defines Wi-Fi in 2.4 and 5 GHz with multiple, simultaneous data streams on the same frequency at the same time ("MIMO" - Multiple Input / Multiple Output). Although the standard defines connection rates up to 600 Mbps it is more typical to achieve connection rates of 230 Mbps or 300 Mbps with actual throughput of between 40 Mbps and 170 Mbps.

The 802.11p working group is developing extensions to the basic 802.11 radio standards that are applicable to automobiles and which provide communication in the 5.9 GHz spectrum allocated to vehicles. Considerations include better security, mobile operation, identification, and a more sophisticated handoff system. 802.11p will be the basis of DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications), a system intended for communications from one vehicle to another or to a roadside network.

An IEEE task group formed in 2004, 802.11r provides standards for Fast Roaming, the quick reassociation with a new access point after a user moves out of the range of the access point to which they're currently associated. The need for Fast Roaming is most noticeable when wireless Voice-over-IP (VoWLAN) is implemented. There is some controversy related to the fact that 802.11i includes standards for Fast Authentication Caching.

This IEEE task group is defining standards for Wireless Mesh Routing.

"Recommended Practice for the Evaluation of 802.11 Wireless Performance" Standards for wireless network testing methods and Wireless Performance Prediction (WPP). Various mathematical algorithms have been developed to model the performance of wireless network systems. These RF models are, today, used by Connect802 in the creation of a Connect EZ Predictive RF CAD Design. According to Paul Nikolich, chair of the IEEE 802 committee, "A test specification is particularly important for 802.11 given the complexity of the protocol and the challenges of wireless test. Standard test-methodology guidelines can help the end-user community evaluate product specifications and performance." The goal of the 802.11T project is to provide a set of performance metrics, measurement methodologies, and test conditions to enable manufacturers, test labs, service providers, and users to measure the performance of 802.11 WLAN devices and networks at the component and application level.

Referred to as the WIEN Study Group (Wireless Internetworking with External Networks), 802.11u is establishing standards for the integration of 802.11 and external wireless systems like 3G cellular. The task group is studying access router identification, MAC address anonymity, scalability, policy enforcement, access control, quality of service, and billing administration; in addition to the other requirements for interoperation between network systems.

Proposed in September, 2004, the 802.11v study group focuses on standards for wireless network management with the goal of providing a complete and coherent upper layer interface for managing devices in 802.11 wireless networks. Problems with traditional SNMP in the distributed WLAN environment are being addressed. The 802.11v group is dependent on the 802.11k group, which is defining measurements that will be incorporated into the management interface being defined by 802.11v.

This security standard provides encryption for 802.11 management and control frames. Without the implementation of this standard, only 802.11 data frames are encrypted with WEP, WPA, or AES (as per 802.11i). Work on this standard was begun in 2005 and the expectation is that it will be at least 2008 before the standard is finalized. A technical brief discussing 802.11w is available.

At present there is no 802.11z standard, either proposed, in a working group, or in draft. A careful search of the IEEE website and the IEEE 802.11 working group website reveals no mention of an 802.11z standard. Unfortunately the world-at-large seems to define "z" as everything from Gigabit wireless to mental telepathy (really). It may be the case that this general misperception has its roots in a typographic error stemming from 2002. A May 2002 announcement from O'Reilly press contains a typographic error when it states, "Gast tackles these issues and many more in his book. "802.11 Wireless Networks: The Definitive Guide" also looks forward to the newest developments in wireless networks, including the two new 54 Mbps standards: 802.11z and 802.11g. Of course, the two "new" 54 Mbps standards are 802.11a and 802.11g. It's interesting how "z" and "a" are positioned relative to each other on a QWERTY keyboard. This typographic error appears to have propagated to many reviewers websites across the Internet. A similar typographic error appears in a paper published in the IEEE Journal. The title in the index listing says "z" but the actual PDF of the paper says "a". There is no 802.11z.

Standards for Demand Priority

The "13" standard designation was not used, much like many high-rise buildings do not have a "thirteenth floor".

Standards for Cable TV Based Broadband Communication Networks including Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS)

The IEEE 802.15 working group develops standards to specify "Personal Area Networks" (PANs) providing connectivity for devices close proximity (less than roughly 10 or 20 feet) of each other. The working group is standardizing a technology called "Bluetooth" that had its origins in a group of manufacturers and related companies called the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. Bluetooth technology is quite popular for applications like wireless headsets and wireless connections between digital cameras and computers (for downloading pictures). Bluetooth is also prevalent in the cell phone and PDA (personal digital assistant) market for synchronizing telephone books, and notepads in hand-held devices to desktop computers. At issue relative to Wi-Fi is the fact that Bluetooth operates in the same frequency band as 802.11b and 802.11g. The presence of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in the same room can cause interference that can disrupt either, or both, of the groups of communicating devices.

The 802.15.1 standard defines wireless networking with a 1 Mbps data rate that operates at 2.4 GHz over a range of up to 10 meters. Bluetooth is intended for short-range links between computers, personal digital assistants, mobile phones, printers, digital cameras, keyboards, and other PC peripherals. The 1 Mbps data rate is a serious limitation that prevents this technology from acting as a USB replacement except for very low-speed peripherals such as keyboards.

802.15.3 and .3a - Standards for high rate WPANs with 10-500 Mbps data rates. UltraWideband is a key technology being considered as part of this standard.

The 802.15.4 ZigBee standard addresses the low cost and low power needs that remote monitoring and control and sensory network applications have, including the ability to run for years on standard batteries. These products operate with rates up to 250 Kbps in the unlicensed bands that include 2.4 GHz globally, 915 MHz in North and South America, and 868 Mhz in Europe.

WiMAX is one approach for the metropolitan area to address the “last mile” problem of providing connections to individual homes and offices. The initial version, approved in December, 2001, operates in the 10-66 GHz frequency band with line-of-sight towers to fixed locations. The 802.16a extension, ratified in January, 2003, does not require line-of-sight transmission and allows use of lower 2-11 GHz frequencies for both fixed and portable applications. 802.16a claims up to a 30-mile range and 75 Mbps data transfer (at 20 MHz channelization) that can support a large number of users, plus improved latency and per-connection QoS features. 802.16a provides selectable channel bandwidths from 1.25 to 20 MHz with up to 16 logical sub-channels. A typical cell radius is similar to that provided by 2.5 and 3G cellular telephony of roughly 3-5 miles.

This standard was ratified in January 2003 and uses 2-11GHz frequencies to allow non-line-of-sight (NLOS) transmission. 801.16a does not provide service for mobile use (client moving faster than walking speed) and is intended to provide point-to-point or point-to-multipoint connectivity for small business, residential service, and backhaul for hotspots. This is sometimes referred to as "wireless local loop" with reference to the Telco central office to subscriber wiring loop infrastructure.

This standard overlaps the mandates of the 802.20 working group by providing service for mobile users who will be able to maintain their connections at speeds up to 150 km/hr (93 miles per hour).

Formed in December, 2002, the IEEE 802.20 working group has as its mission: To develop the specification for an efficient packet based air interface that is optimized for the transport of IP based services. The goal is to enable worldwide deployment of affordable, ubiquitous, always-on and interoperable multi-vendor mobile broadband wireless access networks that meet the needs of business and residential end user markets. Specification of physical and medium access control layers of an air interface for interoperable mobile broadband wireless access systems, operating in licensed bands below 3.5 GHz, optimized for IP-data transport, with peak data rates per user in excess of 1 Mbps. It supports various vehicular mobility classes up to 250 Km/h in a MAN environment and targets spectral efficiencies, sustained user data rates and numbers of active users that are all significantly higher than achieved by existing mobile systems. The 802.20 interface seeks to boost real-time data transmission rates in wireless metropolitan area networks to speeds that rival DSL and cable connections (1Mbps or more) based on cell ranges of up to 15 kilometers or more, and it plans to deliver those rates to mobile users even when they are traveling at speeds up to 250 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour). This would, for example, make 802.20 an option for deployment in high-speed trains.

The 802.22 WRAN (Wireless Regional Area Network) Working Group standards relate to the reuse of otherwise unused UHF television broadcast channels for Wi-Fi-like communication. This allows close to a 40-mile radius of coverage, including inside buildings, from a single transmitter. Bandwidth in the 700 MHz spectrum was auctioned in January 2008 with Verizon, AT&T and Qualcomm being major winners. 

 

ITU-T recommendation E.164 provides the number structure and functionality for three categories of telephone numbers used around the world. These categories are: national telephone services within specific countries, global telephone services, and international network interconnectivity identifiers. All telephones in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) can be reached by dialing the appropriate number. Country codes are assigned in E.164 as well. The Connect802 main office number, 1-925-552-0802, is an example of an E.164 address.

H.323 is a protocol initially used to set up, manage, and tear down Voice-over-IP telephone calls. It is a circuit management protocol designed in the context of SS7 and the PSTN. The SIP protocol performs the same functions but can also be used in a more general-purpose manner. H.323 predates SIP by a few years and SIP is currently the evolving protocol of choice for managing VoIP calls. A detailed technical discussion comparing H.323 and SIP can be referenced for more information about these two signaling methods.