Thoughts on IETF scope definition

[Alex Zinin <zinin@psg.com>]

Thinking about the IETF scope definition...

It seems we can identify multiple dimensions of the scope
and try to set the bounds on each direction. See below.

 1. Position in the TCP/IP stack or layered networking model.
    E.g., it used to be layers 3 and 4. We're now certainly
    lower and higher than that (E.g. SUB-IP and APPS areas)
    This is where the general level of expertise is discussed
    as well.

 2. Technology life cycle.
    One could generally identify the following stages:
     1) research
     2) architecture and design
     3) protocol specification
     4) implementation
     5) interop testing
     6) bug fixing
     7) deployment
     8) operations

    Research is done in the IRTF. We do some of 2 and are hopefully
    good at 3. We do NOT do 4, 5, or 6. We don't do actual deployment
    and operations, but we have an area where related aspects are
    discussed

 3. Relevance to the Internet.
    Ranging from "I want to send a message to my son's PC upstairs and
    it could be over IP", to "we'll have to change the Internet
    router's queuing algorithms to accommodate blah". Here we could
    potentially differentiate between different types of devices
    and networks technologies could be developed for and implemented
    on.

    For this, I like the statement from the small group meeting,
    specifically the part that says:
    
                                        expected to have
        wide deployment on, or form part of, the Internet
        infrastructure

 4. Relevance to IETF standards
    ranging from "we only bother with changes to IETF standards if
    they are directly relevant to the Internet" to "all changes to
    IETF standards should be handled with the IETF".


Of course, other key questions we need to ask ourselves are:

 - is there something we regret the IETF took on
 - is there something we regret the IETF did NOT take on

 (note that these questions are different from whether or not we
 regret a specific technology was invented/marketed/deployed, i.e.
 some of us may not be totally in love with MPLS, but when the
 ball started rolling, was the IETF the right place for it?)

We should then look at the examples and see if there's a generic
trend there that should result in moving some area in or out of
the IETF scope...

-- 
Alex
http://www.psg.com/~zinin/