How OSI Works | HowStuffWorks

Businessman pointing at a lock icon showing cybersecurity and privacy concepts to protect information online. — The core of this standard is the OSI Reference Model, a set of seven layers that define the different stages that data must go through to travel from one device to another over a network.Teera Konakan / Getty Images

Virtually all networks in use today are based in some fashion on theOpen Systems Interconnection(OSI) standard.OSIwas developed in 1984 by the国际标准化组织(ISO), a global federation of national standards organizations representing approximately 130 countries.

The core of this standard is theOSI Reference Model,一个set of seven layers that define the different stages that data must go through to travel from one device to another over anetwork. In this article, you'll find out all about the OSI standard.