Open standards are formats that have been accepted by the industry through formal process that are readily available by the industry. Some of these open standards include such prefixes as: HTTP, HTML and TCP/IP. The benefits of open standards are you have the option not to be locked into one vendor. Since the specifics are open and detailed another vendor could come in and also give work and or solutions to the project. Another benefit would be it is easier for systems using different vendors to be able to adapt to the technology and communicate with each other. Therefore open standards are here to stay and further the internet and other projects well from what it is now. Layered architecture is beneficial to society for the reason of easily organizing the tasks at hand. With this method it not only pertains to networking but to real life as well. Layered architecture is not a new process it has been around for quite some time. A protocol is a set of rules that allows the communications between computers on the network. These rules help regulate the guidelines of speed data transfer and access method. A society based protocol would be like a motorcycle club. For example the network would be the president and the computers would be the other members. The protocol would be the Sgt of Arms as for he would be the one that controls the communication between he members and the president. The four types of different networks are LAN (local area network), WLAN (wireless local area network), WAN (wide area network), and VPN (virtual private network). LAN is your most basic form or network; this is where all the computers belong to the same network and plugged into the same hub. WLAN is your second most basic home network, this is where you are wirelessly connected to the internet in your home and can be connected through multiple devices. WAN is a network that connects multiple LAN networks across a large area. VPN is a network that relies on protocol that encrypts the data from one end to another. This network is more used in government applications or a secure networking site. The OSI and TCP/IP models are similar in ways that the both handle the network. They both have and application layer and transport layer. There are differences as well, the largest difference is the amount of layers that the two have. The TCP/IP protocol has 4 layers, application layer, transport layer, internet layer, and a link layer. The OSI protocol has 7 layers, application layer, presentation layer, session layer, transport layer, network layer, data link layer and a physical layer.