Select a topic below to get started:

• Network Standards
• Internet Protocols
• Connection Standards
• Communications Technology
• Management Standards
• Security, Cryptography and Algorithms
• Journal Articles, Conference Papers and Books
• Networking Industry Information

Internet Resources

IEEE 802

• IEEE 802 Standards
  Access the full text of IEEE Local and Metropolitan Area Network standards. The standards are available for free six months after publication.
• IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee's Working Group Home Pages
  IEEE 802 develops Local and Metropolitan Area Network standards. Locate links to the home pages of the committee's working groups.
• IEEE 802.11 Wireless Lan Working Group Tutorials

10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance (10GEA)
10GEA's goal is to facilitate and accelerate the introduction of 10 Gigabit Ethernet into the networking market. It also supports the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet committee and the development of the 802.3ae (10 Gigabit Ethernet) standard. View the group's white papers.

Request for Comments (RFC) Editor
When started in 1969, the Requests for Comments (RFCs) formed a series of notes about the Internet. The notes now discuss many aspects of computer communication, focusing on networking protocols, procedures, programs and concepts. Search and retrieve notes at this site. The specification documents of the Internet protocol suite, as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and its working group the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), are published as RFCs. The RFC publication process plays an important role in the Internet standards process.

Internet Resources

Protocol Numbers and Assignment Services
Obtain information on the unique parameters and protocol values used to operate the Internet. Number types range from unique port assignments to registration of character sets.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
ICANN is a technical coordination body for the Internet. ICANN coordinates unique assignments for Internet domain names, IP address numbers, and protocol parameter and port numbers.

American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
ARIN is responsible for the administration and registration of IP numbers for North America, South America, sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean.

Protocol Directory
The protocols section of this directory lists the most common data communications protocols. The physical interfaces section provides descriptions of the physical layer technologies used in data communications.

Understanding IP Addressing: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
Read this paper from Chuck Semeria of 3Com Corporation.

InterNIC: The Internet's Network Information Center
Find information about Internet domain name registration services.

Internet Resources

Fibre Channel

• Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA)
  FCIA works to deliver a broad base of Fibre Channel infrastructure to support industry applications within the mass storage and IT-based arenas. Obtain information about Fibre Channel technology, news and products.
• Fibre Channel Products
  From Adaptec.

IEEE 1394

• 1394 Trade Association
  Supports the development of computer and consumer electronics systems that can be easily connected with each other through the single IEEE 1394 multimedia connection.

USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF)
USB-IF supports the advancement and adoption of Universal Serial Bus technology. USB provides a fast and easy way to connect computers with peripherals like digital joysticks, scanners, digital speakers, digital cameras and PC telephones. View the group's white papers.

Internet Resources

Frame Relay Forum
Works for the education, promotion and implementation of Frame Relay, a high speed communications technology that is used to send information over a wide area network (WAN). Read the Basic Guide to Frame Relay Networking.

ATM Forum
Works for the education, development and mass-market deployment of Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). ATM is a high speed digital communications technology; it is used for the transport of voice, video, data and images. Explore guides to ATM, ATM standards, white papers and case studies.

ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communication (SIGCOMM)
ACM SIGCOMM provides a forum for computing professionals involved in the field of data communication.

Internet Resources

Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)
DMTF's goal is to lead the development of management standards for distributed desktop, network, enterprise and Internet environments. Visit the education section to view tutorials and white papers.

Internet Resources

SANS (System Administration, Networking, and Security) Institute
SANS Institute is a research and education organization. Register for a free subscription to SANS NewsBites, a weekly high-level executive summary of the most important news articles that have been published on computer security during the last week. Browse the Information Security Reading Room for articles on a variety of security issues.

ACM Special Interest Group on Security Audit and Control (SIGSAC)
ACM SIGSAC addresses all activities involved with maintaining and protecting computers and their programs, focusing on the architectural foundation of secure systems. SIGSAC is also involved with the development of computer security standards.

RSA Security
RSA Security is an electronic security company. View the company's white papers. Register for a free subscription to the RSA e-Security Today newsletter.

A Layman's Guide to a Subset of ASN.1, BER, and DER by Burton S. Kaliski Jr. of RSA Data Security
Read this introduction to OSI's Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1), Basic Encoding Rules (BER) and Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER). Available as a Postscript (.ps) or Portable Document Format (.pdf) file.

Kerberos: The Network Authentication Protocol
Kerberos is designed to provide strong authentication for client/server applications by using secret-key cryptography. This protocol is available for free from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Journal of Experimental Algorithmics (Rensselaer at Hartford login ID and password required)
Available in full text from the ACM Digital Library database.

Journal of Algorithms
Obtain tables of contents and abstracts for free. To obtain the full text of specific articles, use our Interlibrary Loan service. You can fill out your request form online!

Collected Algorithms of the ACM
Download algorithms from this site.

German Enigma Machine
Learn about the breaking of Enigma, Germany's machine cipher.

ACM Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT)
ACM SIGACT specializes in the theoretical foundations of computer science.

Internet Resources

Standard & Poor's Computers: Networking Industry Survey (Rensselaer at Hartford login ID and password required)
Find a substantial overview (about 30 pages) of the computer networking industry, including statistics, outlook, and a comparative analysis of statistics for the major players. Recent issues online; historical issues in the library in print (see below).
Special Directions: select "Industry" from the horizontal blue menu bar at the top of S & P's home page. Select "Computers: Networking" from the alphabetical list of industries.

LexisNexis Academic (Rensselaer at Hartford login ID and password required)
Search full text articles from news, trade, legal and business publications, including a large selection of publications on computer and industries.

Network Professional Association (NPA)
NPA is the association for network computing professionals.

Print Resources

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys
Find a substantial overview (about 30 pages) of the computer networking industry, including statistics, outlook, and a comparative analysis of statistics for the major players. Recent issues online; historical issues in the library in print (see below). Current and historical issues in print. Recent issues online (see above).
Location: REF HC 106.6 .S74