Dedicated to preserving the central coordinating functions of the global
Internet for the public good.
Please note that this transitional site presents both initial steps and
currently accepted practices that are subject to input by the
international Internet community and approval by the Board of Directors.
Press Release on June 5th, 1998
Contact: Bob Calverley (213-740-4750) 0598012
email:calverle@usc.edu
INTERNET ASSIGNED NUMBERS AUTHORITY PLANS
TRANSITION TO INTERNATIONAL NONPROFIT GROUP
Consistent with a U.S. government-proposed plan, the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA), which coordinates the Internet's address system,
domain names, and protocols, is preparing to transition its
responsibilities to an international not- for-profit corporation run by a
board of directors
representing the spectrum of Internet interests around the world.
The IANA function currently operates under a U.S. government contract
awarded to the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of
Southern
California's School of Engineering.
IANA plays a central role in the management of the domain- name system to
support and implement the community consensus about the appropriate
overall structure of the system. For example, IANA coordinates the generic
top-level domain names designated by Internet suffixes such as "com,"
"edu"
and "org," and manages the country code top-level domains, such as "jp"
for Japan and "fr" for France, by delegating them to name registries in
each
country.
In addition, IANA coordinates Internet numeric addresses, such as
"172.16.0.1," by delegating management of address blocks to registries.
Three
regional registries serve the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific
region.
"IANA will be transitioning within an evolutionary, not revolutionary,
model -- guided by the community consensus that has served it successfully
in the
past," says Jon Postel, the ISI research scientist who largely created the
Internet's domain name system and has headed IANA since the Internet's
inception. "As proposed, the new organization will have enlarged community
representation, including address and name registries, protocol
organizations and user/industry organizations."
Dr. Postel says the change is the outcome of discussions and input from
the user community, the Internet Engineering Task Force and the Internet
Architecture Board, as well as public comment on the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration's "Green Paper" and
recently
released "White Paper."
"All of these discussions indicate strong support for the transition of
IANA into a not-for-profit corporation," says Postel. "While it is planned
that IANA
initially will be incorporating as a separate company in the United
States, offices subsequently may be added in other countries as necessary
to carry out
IANA's mission. The organization plans to move from USC to new and
independent offices."
"It is expected that the new IANA will be supported by the Internet
community representing four operational areas -- address registries, name
registries,
protocol organizations and user/industry organizations. A transitional
board of directors for the replacement organization will be nominated by
organizations within each of the four operational areas with full
international participation."
"The transitional board will provide interim guidance and facilitate the
process to establish the first full-term board and select the chief
executive officer,"
Postel says.
More information about the transition can be found on IANA's website:
BC.IANA -USC- JUNE 5, 1998
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