Internet governance hierarchies

9 Internet governance hierarchies
serves to adjudicate disputes in the standards process and is responsible for setting the technical direction, establishing standards, and resolving problems in the internet. The IAB meets regularly to discuss internet standards. Since the internet is not an IBM-only, Intel-only, or PowerPC – only network, it can work only if standard ways exist for computers software applications to talk to each other. This allows computer from different vendors to communicate or interoperate without problems. The IAB is responsible for these standards; it decides when a standard is necessary, considers the problem, adopts a standard, and announces it via the network.
The IAB also keeps track of various network addresses. Each host computer has a unique 32 – bit address called IP address; no two computers in the world can have the same address. The IP address is similar to a telephone number; no two customers can have the same number. The IAB worries about the problem like how to develop rules for assigning IP numbers. In other words, it doesn’t actually assign the address, but it makes the rules about how to assign them. An interesting side effect of the rapid growth of the internet is that the 32-bit IP address space is becoming insufficient. While it is true that the internet is running out of 32-bit IP addresses, this problem is being addressed with the IP next generation (IPng) extension (see Chapter 17). In short, IPng seeks to add digits to the IP address. This is somehow like the U.S. phone system, which has run out of numbers several times. Ten years ago local calls were dialed with seven digits; today, in some metropolitan areas, local calls now require dialing ten digits.
The IAB is supported by the engineering task force (IETF), the protocol engineering and development arm of the internet. The IETF is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the internet architecture and the smooth operation of the internet. It is open to any interested individual and meets regularly to discuss operational and near-term technical problems of the internet. The internal management of the IETF is handled by the area directors. Together with the chair of the IETF, they form the internet engineering steering group (IESG). The operational management of the internet standards process is handled by the IESG under the auspices of the internet society.
IETF WORKING GROUPS