Skip to main content

IETF 101 proceedings

IETF overview

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:

  • Identifying and proposing solutions to pressing operational and technical problems in the Internet
  • Specifying the development or usage of protocols and the near-term architecture, to solve technical problems for the Internet
  • Facilitating technology transfer from the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) to the wider Internet community;and
  • Providing a forum for the exchange of relevant information within the Internet community between vendors, users, researchers, agency contractors, and network managers.

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 Email
Alissa Cooper IETF Chair chair@ietf.org
Alissa Cooper General Area alissa@cooperw.in
Alia Atlas Routing Area akatlas@gmail.com
Deborah Brungard Routing Areas db3546@att.com
Ben Campbell Applications and Real-Time Area ben@nostrum.com
Benoit Claise Operations and Management Area bclaise@cisco.com
Spencer Dawkins Transport Area spencerdawkins.ietf@gmail.com
Suresh Krishnan Internet Area suresh.krishnan@ericsson.com
Mirja Kühlewind Transport Area ietf@kuehlewind.net
Warren Kumari Operations and Management Area warren@kumari.net
Terry Manderson Internet Area terry.manderson@icann.org
Alexey Melnikov Applications and Real-Time Area aamelnikov@fastmail.fm
Kathleen Moriarty Security Area Kathleen.Moriarty.ietf@gmail.com
Eric Rescorla Security Area ekr@rtfm.com
Alvaro Retana Routing Area aretana@cisco.com
Adam Roach Applications and Real-Time Area adam@nostrum.com

Liaison and ex-officio members include:

Ted Hardie IAB Chair iab-chair@iab.org
Suzanne Woolf IAB Liaison suzworldwide@gmail.com
Michelle Cotton IANA Liaison iana@iana.org
Sandy Ginoza RFC Editor Liaison rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org
Alexa Morris IETF Secretariat Liaison exec-director@ietf.org

The IETF has a Secretariat, which is managed by Association Management Solutions, LLC (AMS) in Fremont, California.The IETF Executive Director is Alexa Morris (exec-director@ietf.org).

Other personnel that provide full-time support to the Secretariat include:

Executive Director Alexa Morris
Director, Meetings and Events Laura Nugent
Associate Director Cindy Morgan
Senior Meeting Planner Stephanie McCammon
Project Manager Liz Flynn
Project Manager Amy Vezza
Meeting Regsitrar Jasmine Magallanes
Administrative Coordinator Jenny Bui

To contact the Secretariat, please refer to the addresses and URLs 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 https://www.ietf.org.