TCP / IP

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) is a set of communications protocols developed for internetworking dissimilar systems. This is supported by many hardware vendors from microcomputers to mainframes. It is used by most universities, federal governments, and many corporations. TCP/IP has two parts. TCP protocol controls data transfer that is the function of the transport layer in the OSI model. IP protocol provides the routing and addressing mechanism that are the roles of the network layer in the OSI model.

The TCP/IP may be the oldest networking standard, and is also the most popular network protocol, used by almost 50 percent of all installed backbone, MAN (metropolitan area network), and WAN (wide area networks). TCP/IP is widely compatible with many other protocols. Although TCP/IP supports many protocols, it is usually associated with Ethernet. TCP/IP is also the network protocol used on the Internet.