We derive conditions for quadratic stabilizability of linear networked control systems by dynamic output feedback and communication protocols. These conditions are used to develop a simultaneous design of controllers and protocols in terms of matrix inequalities. The obtained protocols do not require knowledge of controller and plant states but only of the discrepancies between current and the most recently transmitted values of nodes' signals, and are implementable on controller area networks. We demonstrate on a batch reactor example that our design,guarantees quadratic stability with a significantly smaller network throughput than previously available designs. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.