IEEE 802


IEEE 802 is a family of IEEE standards dealing with local area networks and metropolitan area networks.
The IEEE 802 standards are restricted to networks carrying variable-size packets, unlike cell relay networks, for example, where data is transmitted in short, uniformly sized units called cells. Isochronous networks, where data is transmitted as a steady stream of octets, or groups of octets, at regular time intervals, are also beyond the scope of the IEEE 802 standards.
The number “802” has no particular significance: it was simply the next available number IEEE could assign to the standards project, although "802" is sometimes associated with February 1980, the date of the first meeting.
The services and protocols specified in IEEE 802 map to the lower two layers of the seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection networking reference model. In fact, IEEE 802 splits the OSI Data Link Layer into two sub-layers named logical link control and media access control, so the layers can be listed like this:
The IEEE 802 family of standards is maintained by the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee. The most widely used standards are for the Ethernet family, Token Ring, Wireless LAN, Bridging and Virtual Bridged LANs. An individual working group provides the focus for each area. The groups are numbered from 802.1 to 802.12.

Working groups