The resulting system of interconnected networks is called an internetwork, or simply an internet.
An earlier term for an internetwork is catenet,[3] a short-form of (con)catenating networks.
[10][11] Research at the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom confirmed establishing a common host protocol would be more reliable and efficient.
The Internet Protocol is designed to provide an unreliable (not guaranteed) packet service across the network.
Some applications use a simpler, connection-less transport protocol, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), for tasks which do not require reliable delivery of data or that require real-time service, such as video streaming[16] or voice chat.
The Open System Interconnection (OSI) reference model was developed under the auspices of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and provides a rigorous description for layering protocol functions from the underlying hardware to the software interface concepts in user applications.
Despite similar appearance as a layered model, it has a much less rigorous, loosely defined architecture that concerns itself only with the aspects of the style of networking in its own historical provenance.
It was unclear which of the OSI model and the Internet protocol suite would result in the best and most robust computer networks.