1 Internet Society and IETF Dawit Bekele, Manager African Regional Bureau Internet Society (ISOC) For AfTLD 2 nd ccTLD African event April 2008

2 What is ISOC? Mission –"To assure the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.” Not-for-profit charitable organization –Global, but with a local perspective –84+ ISOC Chapters worldwide –26,000+ Individual members, 150 Organisational members

3 Global Membership

4 ISOC Chapters Mostly volunteer entities supporting ISOC’s Mission & Principles –Vital to ISOC’s “global” reach –Important component of ISOC’s Strategic Operating Plan Serve interests of local community –Organise activities/events/education locally –Provide services in local language –Amplify ISOC efforts locally/regionally Provide local perspective back to ISOC

5 ISOC Chapters

6 What Makes the Internet Society Unique? Sole focus is the Internet –Education, Standards, Policy Organisational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Enable capacity and technical community building throughout the world Key player in Internet policy –Particularly in the Internet Governance Forum

7 What does ISOC do? Organisational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Enabling technical capacity building and community development throughout the world Promoting governmental policies that support Internet growth

8 ISOC’s Initiatives Enabling access –Policy, regulation and access –Develop access priorities –Provide pertinent information on access issues –Encourage adoption of Internet friendly public policies –Promote ISOC values to policy makers (IGF Ambassadors) –Technical capacity building –Train 850 network operators within a year –Identify new needs for technical education –Conduct and improve ISOC Fellowship to IETF –Underserved communities –Disabilities access –Remote areas –Multilingualism

9 ISOC’s Initiatives … Internetworks Initiative –Common and Open Internet Program –Identify limiters to the common and open Internet –Protect the end-to-end nature of the Internet –Global addressing program –Issues in deploying IPv6 –Support development and deployment of key technologies for ensuring a stable and securing Internet

10 ISOC’s Initiatives … Trust and Identity –Baseline studies –Leveraging stakeholder relationships –Tools, case studies and test implementations

11 Activities in Africa Support for –AfNOG workshops –ccTLD workskhops –Advanced workshops under planning –AfriNIC AfNOG track E0 Localisation pilot ISOC Fellowship to IETF Project funding Regional Policy meetings –Bridge between policy and technology –IGF related meetings (Abuja, Kigali) –Policy INET

12 Education Publications & Resources IETF Journal –A review of what's happening in the world of Internet standards with a focus on the activities of IETF Working Groups –Highlights hot issues being discussed in IETF meetings and IETF mailing lists –Published 3 times per year – Workshop Resource Centre –On-line repository of presentations and materials from Internet conferences worldwide –Managed by NSRC –

13 A Few of the People We Reach… ccTLD Workshop in Nairobi, Kenya, Sept ISOC Fellows at IETF 67 (L to R): Azael Fernandez Alcantara (Mexico), Alfred Prasad (Fiji), and Laupue Raymond Hughes (Samoa) Pre-SANOG Workshop Participants, Bhutan Jan Students and instructors, ccTLD Workshop in Guyana, Feb. 2007

14 ISOC and the IETF ISOC is the organizational home of the (Internet Engineering Task Force) IETF 20 February About the Internet Society

15 IETF Mission - RFC 3935 The mission of the IETF is to produce high quality, relevant technical and engineering documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet in such a way as to make the Internet work better. These documents include protocol standards, best current practices, and informational documents of various kinds.

16 The IETF - Internet Engineering Task Force Formed 1986 – 22nd anniversary Jan Produces Internet Standards Standards process open to all “ Rough consensus and running code” –No voting since no members –Multiple interoperable implementations –Internet Standard => wide use Standards Documents open and free of charge Protocols become standards when widely used, not because of government recognitionProtocols become standards when widely used, not because of government recognition There are others internet standardisation bodies: ITU, W3C, etc, that have different roles and processesThere are others internet standardisation bodies: ITU, W3C, etc, that have different roles and processes

17 Scope “ Above the wire, below the application ” Telecommunications infrastructure – Physical network made up of underwater cables, telephone lines, fiber optics, satellites, microwaves, wi-fi, and so on facilitates the physical transfer of electronic data. Internet protocols and standards eg. TCP, IP, Routing, SIP, Mobile IP, Streaming Video & Audio, IP Sec, ppp, FTP, ssh and more… Content and applications standards (HTML, XML, Java) – Promotes creativity and innovation in applications such as World Wide Web, ebanking, wiki, Skype, and much more

18 Core Principles of the IETF ParticipationParticipation –Technical competence –Individual and not company –Volunteer Core –Open: Anyone can register to a working group and be part of the process –All decisions are made on line –Face to face meetings three times a year, but not compulsory for participation

19 IETF Areas ApplicationsApplications GeneralGeneral InternetInternet Operations and ManagementOperations and Management Real-Time Applications and InfrastructureReal-Time Applications and Infrastructure RoutingRouting SecuritySecurity TransportTransport

20 PACINET 2007, Aug, Honiara, Solomon Islands

21 Jon Postel Award 2007

22 Other Resources

23 Questions? 23