<P> The Internet protocol suite provides end - to - end data communication specifying how data should be packetized, addressed, transmitted, routed, and received . This functionality is organized into four abstraction layers which classify all related protocols according to the scope of networking involved . From lowest to highest, the layers are the link layer, containing communication methods for data that remains within a single network segment (link); the internet layer, providing internetworking between independent networks; the transport layer handling host - to - host communication; and the application layer, which provides process - to - process data exchange for applications . </P> <P> Technical standards specifying the Internet protocol suite and many of its constituent protocols are maintained by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The Internet protocol suite predates the OSI model, a more comprehensive reference framework for general networking systems . </P> <P> The Internet protocol suite resulted from research and development conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the late 1960s . After initiating the pioneering ARPANET in 1969, DARPA started work on a number of other data transmission technologies . In 1972, Robert E. Kahn joined the DARPA Information Processing Technology Office, where he worked on both satellite packet networks and ground - based radio packet networks, and recognized the value of being able to communicate across both . In the spring of 1973, Vinton Cerf, the developer of the existing ARPANET Network Control Program (NCP) protocol, joined Kahn to work on open - architecture interconnection models with the goal of designing the next protocol generation for the ARPANET . </P> <P> By the summer of 1973, Kahn and Cerf had worked out a fundamental reformulation, in which the differences between local network protocols were hidden by using a common internetwork protocol, and, instead of the network being responsible for reliability, as in the ARPANET, this function was delegated to the hosts . Cerf credits Hubert Zimmermann and Louis Pouzin, designer of the CYCLADES network, with important influences on this design . The protocol was implemented as the Transmission Control Program, first published in 1974 . </P>

Who is responsible for developing the concept of a suite of rules for packet network interconnection