ITU Forum Bridging the ICT standardization & development gap The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and Internet Standardisation Dawit Bekele Manager, African Regional Bureau Internet Society
IETF Mission - RFC 3935 The mission of the IETF is to produce high quality, relevant technical and engineering documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet in such a way as to make the Internet work better. These documents include protocol standards, best current practices, and informational documents of various kinds.
The IETF - http://www.ietf.org Internet Engineering Task Force Formed 1986-20th anniversary Jan. 2006 Produces Internet Standards Standards process open to all Rough consensus and running code No voting since no members Multiple interoperable implementations Internet Standard => wide use Standards Documents open and free of charge No formal recognition by Governments or approved standards organizations There are others internet standardisation bodies: ITU, W3, etc, that have different roles and processes
Core Principles of the IETF Participation Technical competence Individual and not company Volunteer Core Open: Anyone can register to a working group and be part of the process All decisions are made on line Face to face meetings three times a year, but not compulsory for participation All documents freely available at no cost RFC series, Internet Drafts Protocol ownership
Scope Above the wire, below the application Content and applications standards (HTML, XML, Java) Promotes creativity and innovation in applications such as World Wide Web, ebanking, wiki, Skype, and much more Internet protocols and standards eg. TCP, IP, Routing, SIP, Mobile IP, Streaming Video & Audio, IP Sec, ppp, FTP, ssh and more s infrastructure Physical network made up of underwater cables, telephone lines, fiber optics, satellites, microwaves, wi-fi, and so on facilitates the physical transfer of electronic data.
Overview of IETF Structure IANA IETF Liaisons IAB Internet Society IESG IASA The IETF IRTF AREA AREA RFC AREA WG WG WG
IETF Areas http://tools.ietf.org tools.ietf.org/area/ Applications General Internet Operations and Management Real-Time Applications and Infrastructure Routing Security Transport
PACINET 2007, 14-24 Aug, Honiara, Solomon 2-4 Islands October 2007
Initial idea IETF Workflow Internet Internet Architecture Engineering Board Steering Group Work Authorisation Discussion Informal discussions RFC Approved Birds of a Feather meeting Chartered Working Group WG Consensus on Drafts Approved Drafts
Mission and purpose What is ISOC? "To assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world. Not-for for-profit charitable membership organisation Global, but with a local perspective 84+ ISOC Chapters worldwide 26,000+ Individual members, 150+ Organisational members Sole focus is the Internet Education, Policy and Standards
ISOC s relationship to IETF As one of ISOC s most important tasks It facilitates open development of standards, protocols, administration and the technical infrastructure of the Internet through the IETF ISOC is organizational and legal home for the IETF ISOC priority to enhance awareness of IETF work including promoting participation
ISOC Fellowship to the IETF Motivation: To facilitate participation in the IETF by technologists from less developed countries Funds costs to attend IETF meetings Sponsors 5 individuals per IETF meeting Program launched in mid-2006, 15 individuals have participated so far including from: Kenya, Togo, and Tunisia Open, competitive application process Applicants selected on their ability to contribute to technical discussions and apply their experience when they return home Each Fellow paired with an IETF mentor http://www.isoc.org/educpillar/fellowship Above: ISOC Fellows at IETF 67, San Diego, USA Below: ISOC Fellows at IETF 68, Prague, CZH
The IETF Journal Published by ISOC A review of what's happening in the world of Internet standards with a focus on the activities of IETF Working Groups Highlights hot issues being discussed in IETF meetings and IETF mailing lists A great way to become familiar with the work of the IETF and keep updated on standards developments Published 3 times per year in print and on-line http://www.isoc.org/ietfjournal
Thank you for listening! Dawit Bekele bekele@isoc.org More information: www.ietf.org www.isoc.org http://www.iana.org http://www.rfc-editor.org http://ietfjournal.isoc.org Questions?