About Internet Society 20 July 2016

Leading Companies and Organizations Commit over US$3M to Internet Engineering Task Force Endowment

Diverse funding source provides solid financial foundation for development of open Internet technologies and standards

Berlin, Germany — Leading Internet organizations and companies today announced a combined commitment of more than US$3 million for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Endowment. The IETF is the Internet’s premiere technical standards body, gathering a large international community of network designers, operators, vendors and researchers concerned with the development and evolution of the Internet technologies and its architecture. The IETF Endowment will provide stable, long-term funding to support the IETF in its mission to make the Internet work better.

“This endowment will help ensure that the IETF has the financial support it needs to expand the global community which produces the excellent technical standards that nearly 4 billion people rely on each day when they use the Internet,” said Gonzalo Camarillo, Chair of the Internet Society Board of Trustees. “The significant contributions by each of the organizations underscore the important role that the IETF plays.”

Charter contributors to the IETF Endowment include:

•    AFRINIC (Internet Numbers Registry for Africa)
•    ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers)
•    Internet Society
•    RIPE NCC (Regional Internet Registry for Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia).

The IETF produces technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet. IETF standards are the foundation for the protocols for email, domain names, the Web, and the Internet itself. IETF participants are currently developing standards to provide the technical foundations for a global Internet of Things, improved security and privacy online, and enhanced real-time voice and video communications.

Started in 1986, the IETF marks its 30th anniversary this year with more than 7000 documents published to date. With participation open to any interested individual, the work of the IETF is conducted largely online. Additionally, more than 1000 individuals gather at IETF meetings held three times per year around the world. For more information about the IETF, see: https://www.ietf.org

About the IETF Endowment
To protect open standards accessibility, the Internet Society has established the Endowment for the Sustainability of the Internet Engineering Task Force (or simply the IETF Endowment). The IETF Endowment will support the standards development initiatives of the Internet Engineering Task Force and provide long-term stability and increased diversity for funding IETF activities and operations. For more information, see: https://www.SustainIETF.org

Quotes from IETF Endowment Contributors

AFRINIC
Alan Barrett, CEO of AFRINIC said, “Both AFRINIC and our members rely on the open standards created by the IETF, and have an interest in the sustainability of the IETF.  In particular, we would not have any IP addresses to manage if it were not for the IETF.  I am very pleased that we are able to contribute to the IETF Endowment.”

ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers)
John Curran, President & CEO of ARIN said, “By way of this contribution, ARIN recognizes the invaluable efforts of the IETF in the development and maintenance of the very protocols that make the Internet possible.”

Internet Society
Kathryn Brown, President & CEO of the Internet Society said, “Beyond the continued day-to-day support the Internet Society provides to the IETF, the IETF Endowment will provide a long term investment to support the ongoing development of the open technical standards. We invite others to join in giving to this important endeavor.”

RIPE NCC
Axel Pawlik, Managing Director of the RIPE Network Coordination Center (NCC) said, “The IETF and the Regional Internet Registries share a long and productive history of working together to ensure the stability of the Internet’s infrastructure. So the RIPE NCC is proud to be able to contribute to the sustainability of the IETF for the foreseeable future.”

Media Contact:
Greg Wood
Internet Society
[email protected]
+1-703-625-3917

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