Internet Info 1997 December/Internet_Info_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_December_1997.iso/isoc/pub/isoc_news/2-3/Cerf, Vint - President's Message.Z/Cerf, Vint - President's Message

Text File | 1994-03-20 | 3KB | 84 lines

N-2-3-002.01

President's Message

Dear Internauts:

It is hard to believe that Autumn has returned to the
northern hemisphere already. I have much to report on
to you. Since I last wrote, the annual Internet Society
INET conference was held in San Francisco. It was a
conference of extraordinary character with representatives
from over 90 countries. It is impossible to list all of
the people who contributed to the success of this meeting,
especially the nearly 900 who attended, so the comments
that follow are necessarily limited. The general chairman, Eric
Benhamou, led a superb conference committee. The program,
organized by Barry Leiner and Bill Yundt, covered an
enormous range of topics. Liz Barnhart did a superb job
of organizing the on-site facilities, with able assistance
from Janet Perry and David Ernst. The pre-conference workshop,
organized by George Sadowsky, brought participants from
nearly 70 countries, who met for a week at Stanford
University and visited selected Internet equipment
vendors around the San Francisco Bay Area. Many went on
to attend INTEROP which followed INET93.

The Board of Trustees met just before INET93 and the
summary of actions taken has been put up on the ISOC
gopher server (gopher <ietf.cnri.reston.va.us> on port 70).
A search is on for a permanent executive director and
Larry Landweber heads the search committee. ISOC will
be moving to new quarters at the beginning of 1994 so
as to permit growth of staff and service functions.

A committee led by Mike Roberts is examining options
for various classes of membership and mechanisms for
helping local Internet Society interest groups to be
formed, worldwide. Howard Funk, our acting executive
director, has been making arrangements for a variety
of special discounts for ISOC members, including various
newsletter and journal subscriptions, discounts for
membership dues in professional organizations with
interests related to ISOC.

Susan Estrada has been examining various possible new
services that ISOC could offer, including variations
on regular bakeoffs, training and perhaps certification
programs. The latter topic was among several under
discussion at the Internet Advisory Council meeting also
held prior to INET93.

Liaison arrangements with the ISO and ITU have been
moving ahead. The former will be pursued through
discussions with IAB, IESG, IETF and appropriate ISO
bodies including SC6 and JTC1. The ITU arrangements
now turn, in part, on whether ISOC is able to make
the case that it should not have to defray operating
costs of the ITU on the basis that ITU is not being
asked to defray ISOC standards-making expenses.

Many ISOC members are participating in NATO Advanced
Studies Institute meetings in Budapest this October
and it is anticipated that follow-on meetings on
networking in the Former Soviet Union may take place
in Moscow in the Spring of 1994.

INET94 is shaping up under the capable direction of
General Chairman Geoff Manning, Program Chairman
Bernie Plattner and Local Arrangements Chairman Jan
Gruntorad. RARE has been very helpful in organizing
the combined Joint European Networking Conference
and INET annual meeting.

The Internet Society will finish the year 1993 with
many new individual and organizational members and
it is my expectation that 1994 will see a major
increase in participation from all quarters of the
globe.

Warmest regards for the holiday season,

Vinton G. Cerf