Back in November, you may have read our post on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF is 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. It is open to any interested individual.
The organization’s stated mission is to make the Internet work better by producing high-quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use and manage the Internet.
The entire Internet ecosystem benefits from open Internet standards, especially when developed in a standards-based, self-governing environment like that provided by the IETF. That's why we're pleased to announce that the U.S. cable industry will be sponsoring the 85th meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force, scheduled to take place in November, 2012, in Atlanta, GA.
The event sponsorship will be shared by some of the nation’s leading broadband providers, including Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Bright House, Cablevision Systems Corp., Charter Communications, and Cox Communications, along with Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs®) and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. The announcement was made in Prague, Czech Republic, as part of the ongoing 80th IETF meeting.
We're very pleased to play a role in this multi-stakeholder forum that will bring together over one thousand of the best and brightest Internet engineers from around the globe, working together for five days in order to come to a consensus on solutions to the pressing operational and technical problems of the Internet.
The IETF covers a wide variety of technical topics. It’s made up of major working group areas: applications, Internet protocol, operations and management, real-time applications and infrastructure, routing, security and transport. It covers such topics as Internet congestion control, IPv6, DNS issues, real-time communications, and many, many more.
The IETF's stated mission is "to make the Internet work better." One of the "founding beliefs" of the IETF is embodied in an early quote about the organization from David Clark, one of the Internet pioneers: "We reject kings, presidents and voting. We believe in rough consensus and running code.”
The U.S. cable industry supports the work of the IETF, and we look forward to sponsoring this prestigious meeting in Atlanta in 2012.