The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) provides a forum for working groups to coordinate technical development of new protocols. Its most important function is the development and selection of standards within the Internet protocol suite.
The IETF began in January 1986 as a forum for technical coordination by contractors for the then US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), working on the ARPANET, US Defense Data Network (DDN), and the Internet core gateway system. Since that time, the IETF has grown into a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet.
The IETF mission includes:
Technical activities in the IETF are addressed within working groups. All working groups are organized roughly by function into seven areas. Each area is led by one or more Area Directors who have primary responsibility for that one area of IETF activity. Together with the Chair of the IETF/IESG, these Area Directors comprise the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).
Name |
Area |
|
Brian Carpenter |
IETF Chair |
<chair@ietf.org> |
Jari Arkko |
Internet |
<jari.arkko@piuha.net> |
Ross Callon |
Routing |
<rcallon@juniper.net> |
Lisa Dusseault |
Applications |
<lisa@osafoundation.org> |
Lars Eggert |
Transport |
<lars.eggert@nokia.com> |
Bill Fenner |
Routing |
<fenner@research.att.com> |
Ted Hardie |
Applications |
<hardie@qualcomm.com> |
Sam Hartman |
Security |
<hartmans-ietf@mit.edu> |
Russ Housley |
Security |
<housley@vigilsec.com> |
Cullen Jennings |
Real-time Applications and Infrastructure |
<fluffy@cisco.com> |
David Kessens |
Operations and Management |
<david.kessens@nokia.com> |
Jon Peterson |
Real-time Applications and Infrastructure |
<jon.peterson@neustar.biz> |
Dan Romascanu |
Operations and Management |
<dromasca@avaya.com> |
Mark Townsley |
Internet |
<townsley@cisco.com> |
Magnus Westerlund |
Transport |
<magnus.westerlund@ericsson.com> |
Liaison and ex-officio members include:
Leslie Daigle |
IAB Chair |
<iab-chair@iab.org> |
Dave Meyer |
IAB Liaison |
<dmm@1-4-5.net> |
Michelle Cotton |
IANA Liaison |
<iana@iana.org> |
Joyce Reynolds |
RFC Editor Liaison |
<rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org> |
Barbara Fuller |
IETF Secretariat Liaison |
<exec-director@ietf.org> |
The IETF has a Secretariat, which is managed by NeuStar Secretariat Services (NSS) in Sterling, Virginia. NSS is headed by Jon Lindberg <jon.lindberg@neustar.biz>, Vice President. The IETF Executive Director is Barbara Fuller <exec-director@ietf.org>.
Senior Meeting Planner |
Marcia Beaulieu |
IESG Support Coordinator and On-Site Registrar |
Amy Vezza |
IETF Working Group Support Coordinator and Internet-Drafts Administrator |
Dinara Suleymanova |
Lead Database Developer |
Michael Lee |
Database Developer |
Sunny Lee |
Meeting Registrar and IETF Proceedings Administrator |
Rebecca Bunch |
Scott Blomquist of TechSquare, Inc., a long-term, part-time contractor, provides ongoing system administration support to Secretariat operations. In addition, about 20 members of the NeuStar team support the Secretariat on an as-needed basis.
To contact the Secretariat, please refer to the addresses and URL's provided on the IETF Secretariat Web page.
The IETF also has a general Administrative Support Activity headed by the IETF Administrative Director, Ray Pelletier iad@ietf.org
The working groups conduct their business during the tri-annual IETF meetings, at interim working group meetings, and via electronic mail on mailing lists established for each group. The tri-annual IETF meetings are 4.5 days in duration, and consist of working group sessions, training sessions, and plenary sessions. The plenary sessions include technical presentations, status reports, and an open IESG meeting.
Following each meeting, the IETF Secretariat publishes meeting proceedings, which contain reports from all of the groups that met, as well as presentation slides, where available. The proceedings also include a summary of the standards-related activities that took place since the previous IETF meeting.
Meeting minutes, working group charters (including information about the working group mailing lists), and general information on current IETF activities are available on the IETF Web site at http://www.ietf.org.