Internet Engineering Task Force to Meet in Philadelphia, March 9-14, 2008

Business Wire, March 6, 2008

PHILADELPHIA -- The 71st meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) will be held in Philadelphia, March 9-14, at the Marriott Philadelphia Downtown. One-thousand five-hundred of the top Internet technologists from more than 40 countries are expected to collaborate in working groups to develop and refine Internet standards and address the most pressing issues facing the Internet and its nearly 1.5 billion users.

As a community-driven activity, the IETF has pioneered a unique, open process for standards development. Open to all, and based on principles such as "rough consensus and running code," the IETF has enabled the development of standards that have supported every aspect of the Internet's phenomenal growth.

Among the standards developed by the IETF are the SMTP standard for sending and receiving e-mail, the HTTP standard that makes Web pages possible and the SIP standard that makes possible inexpensive voice phone calls over the Internet.

During the meeting, the attendees - many of the world's best engineers and Internet technology experts - will collaborate in working groups to develop and refine the technical standards that make the Internet work.

The IETF meets three times a year in different cities around the world. The last meeting was in Vancouver, BC, Canada, in December, and the meeting after this one will be held in Dublin, Ireland, July 27-Aug. 1.

"I welcome the IETF community to Philadelphia, where I'm looking forward to a very productive meeting next week," said Russ Housley, Chair of the IETF. "We will have a particular focus during this meeting, on the next steps toward deployment of IPv6."

"The Internet Society is proud to be associated with the IETF," said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "We appreciate the contributions by all participants in the IETF meeting in support of the development of the Internet."

The IETF and the Internet Society express their appreciation to Comcast, the official host of the IETF 71 in Philadelphia.

For more information about the IETF, please visit: www.ietf.org

Background briefings are available covering:

* What is the IETF?

* The IETF Meeting Process

* The IETF Working Groups

* Understanding Birds of a Feather

* The IETF Standards Process

The IETF is an organized activity of the Internet Society.

About the Internet Society

The Internet Society is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. With offices in Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world.