As I’ve steadfastly refused to grow a grey beard, I will claim I’m too young to take full retirement! But, after five years of chairing the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), I am pleased to step down and pass the task into the capable hands of Olaf Kolkman.
Any number of jokes can be made about the A in IAB standing for administration or appeal – and it is a fact that the IAB has several roles to fulfil in those areas. However, the IAB has remained true to its mandate to provide oversight of the architecture for the protocols and procedures used by the Internet. As the scope of the Internet grows, so does the architectural oversight challenge. Over the past five years, we’ve worked to meet that growing challenge by leveraging the 13-member IAB to provide leadership and guidance of architectural discussions in the open consensus environment of the IETF.
The challenge of providing focused architectural leadership is not going to lessen in the coming years, particularly as the Internet hits some growing pains, such as the current discussions about routing and addressing issues and internationalisation. I am confident that Olaf will provide the thoughtful guidance needed for the IAB to take those issues on and provide oversight, even as the reality remains that the Internet is for, and built by, everyone: we can all be contributing to the discussions of sound Internet architecture.