[125385] in North American Network Operators' Group
[NANOG-announce] The Evolution of NANOG
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steve Feldman)
Tue Apr 13 21:07:29 2010
From: Steve Feldman <feldman@twincreeks.net>
To: nanog-announce@nanog.org
In-Reply-To: <190783.4621.qm@web44710.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:06:58 -0700
Cc: NANOG Steering Committee <steering@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
Dear members of the NANOG community,
Since its inception in 1994, the North American Network Operators =
Group (NANOG) has had its meetings and activities organized under the =
auspices of Merit, providing an incredible service to the North =
American region, and in fact, to the global Internet engineering =
community. The value of this work can not be easily overstated =96 it =
is likely that, absent Merit=92s involvement, the pace of global =
Internet development would have significantly slowed and that the high =
levels of Internet performance that we all enjoy today would not have =
come to pass.
Several periods of evolution have marked the Merit/NANOG =
relationship. The most significant inflections have been the sharp =
growth in NANOG attendance in the late 1990s, the increasing =
importance of the NANOG mailing list as a method of inter-carrier =
communication, the utilization of NANOG meetings as a conduit of =
communications between major government entities and the =
Internetworking community, and the 2004-2005 Charter Process where =
NANOG took a significant step towards self-governance while remaining =
a Merit activity.
Through the successive evolutions, Merit has stayed loyal to the =
ideals of NANOG, providing staff to administer conferences; administer =
servers to host presentations, mailing lists, and archives from the =
early days of the Internet; funds to pay for all of NANOG=92s =
activities; and, equally as important, entering into contract =
obligations on NANOG=92s behalf for meeting venue hotels, at times =
taking on significant contract liability. Since the beginning of this =
relationship, one constant has been the gratitude of NANOG=92s =
membership and governance communities towards Merit for their =
dedication, hard work and financial commitment.
Starting from the ratification of the 2005 NANOG Charter, the =
membership of NANOG has worked hard to establish self-governance =
institutions including our Steering Committee, Program Committee, =
Communications Committee, and Marketing Working Group. These =
institutions have acquired experience and resilience over the past =
five years and matured to the point of self-governance.
The Steering Committee believes the time has come for NANOG to =
continue its natural evolution toward an independent organization. We =
are therefore beginning the process of creating a non-profit, tax- =
exempt entity that will produce NANOG conferences, administer the =
NANOG mailing list, and expand our educational mission. A re- =
structuring of the NANOG/Merit
relationship allows each organization to focus on the direct needs of =
its respective constituency.
This effort is still in the preliminary stages. Our intention is to =
work jointly with Merit to devise a transition plan and a transition =
timeline before NANOG 49 in June of this year. This transition will =
be gradual and designed to ensure a seamless handover of =
responsibility to the new entity, minimizing changes seen by the =
community as a whole. The governance and committee structure will be =
left largely intact, with our current charter converted into a set of =
governing bylaws. We expect to hold a community vote to ratify the =
new bylaws and structure during the annual October election.
We expect there will be many questions and concerns raised regarding =
this process, and suggest that the nanog-futures mailing list is the =
appropriate venue for discussion. (See https://mailman.nanog.org/mailman/l=
istinfo/nanog-futures =
for subscription information.) We also encourage you to share =
reactions directly with the Steering Committee. In the next few days, =
the Communications Committee will create and post a Frequently Asked =
Questions page. We will also hold an extended community meeting =
during NANOG 49 to review progress and discuss the transition.
One thing that won=92t change throughout the course of this next =
evolution is the gratitude of the NANOG membership for the hard work =
and support that the Merit board, staff, and member institutions have =
provided to us over the course of the last 16 years.
For the NANOG leadership,
Steve Feldman (Steering Committee chair)
Patrick W. Gilmore (SC member)
Sylvie LaPerri=E8re (SC member)
Joe Provo (SC member)
Robert Seastrom (SC member)
Duane Wessels (SC member)
David Meyer (Program Committee chair)
Tom Daly (PC vice chair)
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