Transaction processing standards to allow different companies with different
systems to access each other’s on-line databases (e.g., in banking and airline
reservation).
· On-line directory standards for storing details of individuals, organizations, and
network components.
· Standards for exchanging formatted documents.
Application layer standards have paved the way for open software systems, in
which data can be communicated between incompatible base systems (i.e., different
hardware and software architectures) without loss of meaning or usefulness.