Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Protocols
Bioinformatics R&D involves the generation, capture, management, and repurposing of vast amounts
of data. Furthermore, robotic sequencers, nucleotide pattern matchers, and other sources of data can
communicate with workstations and other devices on the network only to the extent that the network
supports the appropriate protocols or sets of standards that enable unencumbered communications.
One of the primary benefits of a computer network is interoperability—the ability of different
computers running different operating systems to share data and resources over a network.
Furthermore, the more devices that can communicate with each other over a network, the more
valuable the network becomes. This interoperability can occur by accident, by a single powerful
vendor defining standards, or, more commonly, by a proposal put forth by a recognized standards
organization.
The key standards organizations that define or suggest network protocols include the Open Systems
Interconnection (OSI) group, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the
Consultative Committee on International Telegraphy and Telephony/International
Telecommunications Union-Telecommunications Sector (CCITT/ITU-T), the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Exchange Carriers Standards Association (ECSA), also known as
the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS).
These organizations define protocols by consensus. Unlike laws enacted by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) or other government agencies, there is no legal penalty for
ignoring a standard—other than potential economic peril. As such, most companies abide by these
and other protocols.
OSI, begun by the International Organization for Standardization in the late 1970s, defines high-level
communications architectures, including the OSI Reference Model (see Table 3-1 ). The model, which
defines everything from the physical medium to the semantics of the messages on the network,
corresponds to the original ARPANET model. TCP/IP, the model upon which the current Internet is
based, omits layers 5 and 6, the session and presentation levels. As such, TCP/IP illustrates the
status of standards in the bioinformatics industry. Because the field is expanding so rapidly, there are
multiple "standards," each of which solves a particular problem.
Table 3-1. The OSI Reference Model. OSI defines the communications
process into seven different categories that deal with communications and
network access.
Layer
Name
Focus
7
Application
Semantics
6
Presentation
Syntax
5
Session
Dialog coordination
4
Transport
Reliable data transfer
3
Network
Routing and relaying
2
Data Link
Technology-specific transfer
1
Physical
Physical connections
The IEEE develops standards for the entire computing industry, including wired and wireless
 
 
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