The Internet Engineering Task Force and The Future of Internet

Abstract

International audience ; If one wants to identify where ideas and initiatives regarding the Internet are being confronted, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is unavoidable. Created in 1986 by US government agencies (DoD, Department of Energy, NASA, NSF) to supervise the design and deployment of Internet protocols, it was initially open only for US government funded researchers. Early 1987 saw a dozen of industry representatives invited, and in a matter of months, the IETF was opened to anyone interested. In 2008, IETF meetings were attended by roughly 1300 engineers and researchers from all over the world.