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Announcement of ITAG
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A key event in the next few months will be the transition of the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) from a US Government funded
activity to an openly governed, privately funded not-for-profit
activity. To guide him through this transition, the Director of the
IANA, Dr. Jon Postel, has requested advice from a few individuals with
experience in the Internet and the international arena. Since the IANA
operates in cooperation with the Internet Architecture Board (IAB),
the formation of this advisory group was jointly announced by Jon and
by Brian Carpenter, Chair of the IAB on February 11, 1998:
The Chair of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), Brian
Carpenter, and the Director of the Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority (IANA), Jon Postel, jointly announce the formation
of the "IANA Transition Advisors Group" (ITAG).
The ITAG will serve as a set of senior advisors to the IANA
during the transition to a new organization with formal status
as a non-profit corporation with a board of directors. This
group will cease to exist when the board of directors of the
new organization has its first meeting. The members of the
ITAG have declared themselves as not candidates for the
initial IANA board.
The ITAG will consist of 6 members. The initial members(*) are:
Randy Bush - Verio
Brian Carpenter - IBM UK
Dave Farber - U Penn
Geoff Huston - Telstra
John Klensin - MCI
Steve Wolff - Cisco
* organization affiliation for identification purposes only.
The initial task of the ITAG is to assist Jon in drawing up draft
statutes for the new, not-for-profit, IANA organization, with
particular attention to its open, international governance. This is
why the ITAG members have disqualified themselves from membership of
the initial Board of the new organization. They will also advise Dr
Postel on any other critical issues concerning the transition to the
new organization.
The ITAG members were invited on a personal basis by Jon, and do not
officially represent anyone except themselves. They all have
significant experience of the international aspects of the Internet.
Their geographical distribution (four in the US, one in Europe and one
on the Pacific Rim) loosely reflects that of the Internet itself.
However, the ITAG makes no claim to authority and will act exclusively
in an advisory capacity.
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