IETF News

News from the IAB

By: IAB Chair, Leslie Daigle

Date: May 7, 2006

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leslie daigle

The first IETF meeting of each calendar year marks the transition between two “IAB years”, as some IAB members finish their terms and step down, and new IAB members join the group. On behalf of all the IAB, I’d like to thank the departing IAB members for their contributions and hard work:

  • Patrik Fältström
  • Bob Hinden
  • Pekka Nikander (stepping down mid-term)
  • Pete Resnick
  • Jonathan Rosenberg

And I’d like to welcome the new folks who take their place:

  • Elwyn Davies
  • Kevin Fall
  • Olaf Kolkman
  • Dave Oran
  • Dave Thaler

As I elaborated during the Thursday plenary session (and as reported here on page 9), the IAB is bringing a busy year to a close. For the IAB, a “busy year” involves acquitting its various administrative and oversight roles, as well as being active in key areas of technical contribution.

Early on in the year, the IAB identified 3 primary areas of focus, in which it planned to make a difference: IPv6 (remaining issues to deployment), general Architectural perspectives and Unwanted Traffic. These three areas capture many of the things that are currently challenging Internet evolution.

The IAB opted to move beyond the discussion of “what if IPv6″ — no matter which set of numbers one believes, it is clear that IPv4 will not last forever. The IAB focused instead on identifying impediments to deployment of IPv6, with a view to filtering that back into any architectural issues that need to be resolved (if any), or architectural guidance that would be helpful to compile and share.

While it’s increasingly clear that a large portion of the Internet’s traffic is unintended, unwanted, or downright malicious, it is also apparent that “unwanted traffic” is a proverbial “elephant” — different people have a very clear understanding of one or more individual parts of the problem, but we need to get a better sense of the overall picture, as well. Hopefully, the report from the IAB’s March workshop on this topic will help provide a starting point for building that perspective.

The challenge is now set for the IAB’s new year — to review what we learned and achieved through the last year, and determine priorities for the coming year.

Architecture never sleeps — stay tuned!

Leslie Daigle, Chair, IAB.

More information about past and present IAB members can be found here .