This Local and Metropolitan Area Network standard, ISO/IEC 8802-5 : 1998, is part of a family of local area network (LAN) standards dealing with the physical and data link layers as defined by the ISO/IEC Open Systems Interconnection Basic Reference Model. Its purpose is to provide compatible interconnection of data processing equipment by means of a LAN using the token-passing ring access method. The frame format, including delimiters, addressing, and priority stacks, is defined. The medium access control (MAC) protocol is defined. The finite state machine and state tables are supplemented with a prose description of the algorithms. The physical layer (PHY) functions of symbol encoding and decoding, symbol time, and latency buffering are defined. The services provided by the MAC to the station management (SMT) and the services provided by the PHY to SMT and the MAC are described. These services are defined in terms of service primitives and associated parameters. The 4 and 16 Mbit/s, shielded twisted pair attachment of the station to the medium, including the medium interface connector (MIC), is also defined. The applications environment for the LAN is intended to be commercial and light industrial. The use of token ring LANs in home and heavy industrial environments, while not precluded, has not been considered in the development of the standard. A Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) proforma is provided as an annex to the standard.