Standard
An agreed-upon set of specifications for hardware or software. Agreeing upon standards makes it possible for different manufacturers to create products that are compatible with each other. Standards may be set by official standards organizations, or they may be unofficial standards that are established by common use.
Advantages of Standards: Standards are advantageous for both the end user and the manufactures of computer products. By having one set standard this helps to prevent confusion between the manufactures and the end users. One example of how a standard came into use was with 56k modems and the X2 and Flex technologies. With two different technologies, Internet Service providers had to spend additional money by buying two brands of modems as well as two different access lines for one or the other technology, or just support one technology and lose business. Thankfully a standard referred to as V.90 came to use that combined the two technology as one.
Also see: De Facto Standard, El Torito, Form factor, ITU, ITU-T, Normalization