Internet Engineering Task Force

(c/o Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), Reston, VA, www.ietf.org) Founded in 1986, the IETF is a non-membership, open, voluntary standards organization dedicated to identifying problems and opportunities in IP data networks and proposing technical solutions to the Internet community.

The work of the IETF is done in working groups that are chartered to explore specific tasks. The groups are organized into areas, each with two directors. The directors, along with the IETF Chair, form the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). The IESG charters working groups and evaluates the proposals they develop. Proposals for IETF consideration are submitted by individuals in the form of temporary documents called "Internet Drafts." If proposals developed by the working groups are accepted by the IESG, they are published as RFCs.

The IETF works under the auspices of the Internet Society, which provides a legal framework and financial support. A small secretariat, provided by CNRI, supports the work of the IETF. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is an IETF committee that provides architectural advice to the IETF and deals with IETF relationships with other standards organizations. The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) is made up of research groups that explore new technologies, some of which are later proposed to the IETF. See BOF and RFC.

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(networking, standard, body)

Internet Engineering Task Force - (IETF) The IETF is a large, open international community of network designers, operators, vendors and researchers whose purpose is to coordinate the operation, management and evolution of the Internet and to resolve short- and mid-range protocol and architectural issues. It is a major source of proposals for protocol standards which are submitted to the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) for final approval. The IETF meets three times a year and extensive minutes are included in the IETF Proceedings. The IETF Secretariat, run by The Corporation for National Research Initiatives with funding from the US government, maintains an index of Internet-Drafts whereas RFCs are maintained by The Internet Architecture Board. http://ietf.org.