IETF

The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) establishes and enforces internet standards. It works with other standard bodies to deal particularly with standards such as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). The IETF is an open-standards organization with no formal membership or requirements. It is structured into several hands-on and informal discussion group, where each group is assigned a specific topic. Each working group consists of an appointed chair and charter member. These members help to promote focus and establish guidelines. The working groups are organized by subjects which include: General, Applications, Internet, Operations and Management, Real-time Applications and Infrastructure, Transport, Routing and Security. Each of these areas are administered by an AD (Area Director). The AD is responsible for appointing chair members for working groups. The IETF Chair works together with Area Directors to form the IESG (Internet Engineering Steering Group), the entity that holds overall control of the IETF.