Editing Internet protocol suite (section)

===Formal specification and standards===
The [[technical standard]]s underlying the Internet protocol suite and its constituent protocols have been delegated to the [[Internet Engineering Task Force]] (IETF).<ref name="introduction-to-the-ietf">{{Cite web |title=Introduction to the IETF |url=https://www.ietf.org/about/introduction/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=IETF |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Morabito |first1=Roberto |last2=Jimenez |first2=Jaime |date=June 2020 |title=IETF Protocol Suite for the Internet of Things: Overview and Recent Advancements |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/mcomstd.001.1900014 |journal=IEEE Communications Standards Magazine |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=41–49 |doi=10.1109/mcomstd.001.1900014 |issn=2471-2825|arxiv=2003.10279 }}</ref>

The characteristic architecture of the Internet protocol suite is its broad division into operating scopes for the protocols that constitute its core functionality. The defining specifications of the suite are RFC 1122 and 1123, which broadly outlines four [[abstraction layer]]s (as well as related protocols); the link layer, IP layer, transport layer, and application layer, along with support protocols.<ref name="rfc1122" /><ref name="rfc1123" /> These have stood the test of time, as the IETF has never modified this structure. As such a model of networking, the Internet protocol suite predates the OSI model, a more comprehensive reference framework for general networking systems.<ref name="IuDfGrr" />