Cisco Commits More Than US$2 Million to Support Open Internet Standards Development

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet’s premier standards organization, and Cisco, the worldwide leader in information technology, announced on 23 July 2013 an agreement to provide up to US$2.2 million in support for the IETF’s work and meetings through 2019.

The IETF brings together leading Internet engineers and technologists from around the world to develop standards that form the foundation of the global Internet and enable yet unimagined products and services. The IETF developed the standards for capabilities such as internationalized domain names, email, and instant messaging. Since its first meeting was held on January 16, 1986 in San Diego, California, the IETF has published more than 4500 documents that describe standards for the fundamental technologies and widely used services on today’s global Internet.

The IETF is open to any interested individual and seeks broad participation from across the globe. While the work of the IETF mainly takes place online to reduce barriers to participation and to maximize contributions from around the world, its meetings bring together over 1000 participants. Cisco’s commitment of more than US$2 million will provide support for both in-person meetings and remote participation technology to enable even broader participation in the IETF.

“The IETF is focused on developing timely, relevant, and technically excellent open standards that provide a platform for the continued growth and evolution of the global Internet,” said Jari Arkko, Chair of the IETF. “Unique among standards organizations, the IETF invites all interested parties to participate, and makes every draft and final standards available online without charge. Cisco’s support will help to further expand participation in the IETF by encouraging involvement in meetings in-person and through collaboration technology built on IETF-developed standards.”

The Internet Society is the administrative home of the IETF. With its commitment, Cisco is recognized as the Internet Society’s newest Corporate Partner. Corporate Partnership is a special program developed by the Internet Society to recognize organizations that have provided support that warrants the highest level of value and recognition, and a customized method for mapping a longer-term strategy across multiple areas of support.

“We welcome Cisco’s expanding commitment to the IETF as it reflects the strategic importance that open Internet standards represent for continued economic and social development around the world,” said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society.