RFC 1120 (rfc1120) - Page 2 of 11
Internet Activities Board
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1120 The IAB September 1989 1979, it was necessary to form an informal committee to guide the technical evolution of the protocol suite. This group was called the Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB) and was established by Dr. Vinton Cerf who was then the DARPA program manager for the effort. Dr. David C. Clark of the Lab for Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology was named the chairman of this committee. In January, 1983, the Defense Communications Agency, then responsible for the operation of the ARPANET, declared the TCP/IP protocol suite to be standard for the ARPANET and all systems on the network converted from the earlier Network Control Program (NCP) to TCP/IP. Late that year, the ICCB was reorganized by Dr. Barry Leiner, Cerf's successor at DARPA, around a series of task forces considering different technical aspects of internetting. The re-organized group was named the Internet Activities Board. As the Internet expanded, it drew support from U.S. Government organizations including DARPA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Key managers in these organizations, responsible for computer networking research and development, formed an informal Federal Research Internet Coordinating Committee (FRICC) to coordinate U.S. Government support for and development and use of the Internet system. The FRICC sponsors most of the U.S. research on internetting, including support for the Internet Activities Board and its subsidiary organizations. At the international level, a Coordinating Committee for Intercontinental Research Networks (CCIRN) has been formed which includes the U.S. FRICC and its counterparts in North America and Europe. The CCIRN provides a forum for cooperative planning among the principal North American and European research networking bodies. 2. Internet Activities Board The Internet Activities Board (IAB) is the coordinating committee for Internet design, engineering and management. The Internet is a collection of over a thousand packet switched networks located principally in the U.S., but also includes systems in many other parts of the world, all interlinked and operating using the protocols of the TCP/IP protocol suite. The IAB is an independent committee of researchers and professionals with a technical interest in the health and evolution of the Internet system. Membership changes with time to adjust to the current realities of the research interests of the participants, the needs of the Internet system and the concerns of the U.S. Government, university and industrial sponsors of the elements of the Internet. Cerf
