IETF

The Internet Engineering Task Force is a large, open international community of network designers, operators, vendors and researchers concerned with the development of the architecture of the Internet and the related protocols for transport over the Internet.

The IETF is organized in a large number of working groups. Each group has its own area of interest. These areas are:

• Applications Area
• General Area
• Internet Area
• Operations and Management Area
• Routing Area
• Security Area
• Transport Area

most of the work is done via correspondence with the use of mailing lists. The IETF gathers three times per year. Proposals for discussion are called IETF Internet Drafts. If a Draft is approved it will be published as a Request For Comment (RFC). All decisions are based on consensus. There is no voting.