For implementations, theThe Internet protocol suite is generally independent of a specific hardware or software environment. It only requires the hardware and a software layer existsto that isexist, capable of sending and receiving packets on a computer network. As a result, the suite has been implemented on essentially every computing platform. A minimal implementation of TCP/IP includes the following: [[Internet Protocol]] (IP), [[Address Resolution Protocol]] (ARP), [[Internet Control Message Protocol]] (ICMP), [[Transmission Control Protocol]] (TCP), [[User Datagram Protocol]] (UDP), and [[Internet Group Management Protocol]] (IGMP).<ref>{{Cite| publisher = IETF| doi = 10.17487/RFC1122| last = Braden| first = Robert T.| title = RFC 1122: Requirements for internet hosts - communication layers| year = 1989}}</ref> In addition to IP, ICMP, TCP, UDP, Internet Protocol version 6 requires [[Neighbor Discovery Protocol]] (NDP), [[ICMPv6]], and [[Multicast Listener Discovery]] (MLD) and is often accompanied by an integrated [[IPSec]] security layer.
