The Internet we know is primarily defined by the mentioned attributes with an objective of keeping the core working and constant while edge of the network continues to grow. Internet allows for:
- Different Players at Different Layers
- Functional Interoperability
- Voluntary adoption of Technology
- Bottom Up Innovation
- Collaboration where needed.
In this process standardization plays a big role because just for browsing the web, there is a strong interoperability requirements which if not met will make Internet cease to exist.
BROWSING THE WEB
- 802.11 //– IEEE — TCP/IP — IETF
- URL //– IETF — BGP — IETF
- NAT //– Propriet — HTTP — IETF
- CSS //– W3C — PNG — IETF
- HTML //– W3C/ISO — MPEG — ISO/IEC
- XML //– W3C — ADSL — ITU-T
The Standardization helps in meeting interoperability requirements and also enables the following:
- Collective Empowerment
- Voluntary Adoption
- Availability
- Adherence to Principles
- Cooperation
The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) is the Internet’s premier standards-making body, responsible for the development of protocols used in IP-based networks. IETF participants represent an international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers involved in the technical operation of the Internet and the continuing evolution of Internet architecture.
The IETF Trust was created by the Internet Society and the Corporation for National Research Initiatives as settlors, the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Initial Trustees on December 15, 2005.The IETF Trust has been requested by the IESG and RFC Editor in November 2014 to provide a license in cases where RFCs contain Templates. The Trustees propose modifying the Trust Legal Provisions (TLP) based upon a need to extract and fill in text from RFCs that contain Templates. The change enables specific text in an RFC that is designated as a Template to be subject to a new provision in the TLP that says that extraction and modification are authorized.
The IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) as an activity housed within the Internet Society (ISOC). It defines the roles and responsibilities of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC), the IETF Administrative Director (IAD), and ISOC in the fiscal and administrative support of the IETF standards process. It also defines the membership and selection rules for the IAOC. The process by which the members of the IAB and IESG, and some members of the IAOC, are selected, confirmed, and recalled is specified in RFC 7437.
The IETF’s standards development work is organized into 8 Areas. Each Area has 1 or more Area Directors (ADs), which together comprise the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). The IESG is responsible for technical management of IETF activities, the Internet standards process, and for the actions associated with entry into and movement along the Internet “standards track,” including final approval of specifications as Internet Standards and publication as an RFC
within each Area there is multiple Working Groups (WG) . Each WG has one or more chairs who manage the work, and a written charter defining what the work is and when it is due. There are 129 WGs. The WGs produce Internet Drafts (I-Ds) which often lead to the publication of an Internet standard as an RFC. People interested in particular technical issues join the mailing list of a WG and occasionally attend one or more of the three IETF meetings held every year.
IESG is considering some major changes in the IETF process and structure for balancing the need of timely response to industry and workload on Area Directors. Some major changes on the cards in IETF are:
MERGING OF UPPER LAYER PROTOCOL AREAS – Merge the APP, RAI, and TSV areas into one combined Network Applications (NAPP) area. From March 2015-March 2016, this combined area would be overseen by the five remaining ADs from APP, RAI, and TSV, with some redistribution of WG shepherding responsibilities among them to balance workloads. DISPATCH, TSVWG, and APPSAWG would continue to function much as they currently do.
ADDING A THIRD RTG Area Director- The load in the RTG area is currently unsustainably high. The placement of a third AD will have the effect of spreading that load such that the time requirement may now be more consistent with the work loads of ADs in other areas.
SHIFTING OF WG RESPONSIBILITY TO OUT-OF-AREA ADS – There are numerous instances where the constituency of a WG exists in a particular IETF area, but the most appropriate AD for that work happens to be in a different area, or where the ADs in the area are simply overloaded
and an AD outside of the area is perfectly capable of managing the work. To address these possibilities, the IESG is moving towards a model where a WG can exist in one area, but its shepherding AD comes from another area. This flexibility will allow the IESG to apply its skills where they can be of most use while still keeping related WGs together within an area. The IESG proposes to experiment with this approach initially by shifting to out-of-area ADs for RADEXT, DIME, LMAP, and ANIMA, perhaps with another few WGs to follow.
There has been participation by Indians in IETF and the state of affairs is as below as compiled from various sources.
POINT OF DEPARTURE -2015 – LOW BUT NOT TO BE DISCOURAGED
POINT OF ARRIVAL – 2020 – AMBITIOUS BUT DREAMING IS IMPORTANT
In this context ISOC Kolkata Chapter appreciates the confidence shown on us by NiXi ( Dr.Govind & K B Narayanan) and special thanks to Dr. Ajay Kumar – Joint Secretary DIETY for supporting us. We look forward to your feedback to improve further.
Anupam Agrawal
Chair
Internet Society Kolkata Chapter
Cell : 91 990 399 2838
Email : [email protected]