[31004] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: bring sense to the ietf - volunteer for nomcom
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Josh Richards)
Tue Sep 5 05:48:58 2000
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 02:23:47 -0700
From: Josh Richards <jrichard@cubicle.net>
To: nanog@merit.edu
Message-ID: <20000905022347.A18199@datahaven.freedom.gen.ca.us>
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In-Reply-To: <20000905074726.29598.cpmta@c004.sfo.cp.net>; from sean@donelan.com on Tue, Sep 05, 2000 at 12:47:26AM -0700
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* Sean Donelan <sean@donelan.com> [20000905 00:27]:
>=20
> I think its great some organizations allow/encourage its employees to
> participate in activites such as the IETF. However, there is a postive
> feedback loop. What is the return on investment of an operator sending
> folks to the IETF? Most major operators already get private presentations
> and submit individual requirements to the vendors to incorporate in their
> products. If UUNET needs some operational feature in a protocol, they
^^^^^^^
> call up their Cisco engineer and say jump. Presto, in the next release
> train, feature X shows up. Who needs rough consensus?
>=20
> I think the IETF is valuable, but what do you tell investors when they
> ask what's in it for them?
Last I checked the IETF invents the protocols, not the features. :-)
*We* demand open standards. The IETF isn't perfect and some things certain=
ly
could use some change. The fact remains that the IETF is still the most=20
effective at developing standards for the Internet community. If you=20
participate in IETF meetings just to get features added to a protocol, you'=
re=20
not taking full advantage, IMO.
You don't have to physically go to the meetings anyway; The real IETF work=
=20
happens on the various e-mail lists. Sure, reading them costs you (or your=
=20
organization) time. A precious resource indeed but the tradeoff of such a=
=20
precious resource can sometimes bring you something much more valuable--
something you didn't know you needed to begin with. A new business model; =
A=20
new network design; A new employee. :-) In summary: A new way of looking a=
t=20
something. Time is money, sometimes time well spent can mean more of the=
=20
other. :-)
In today's marketplace, where a good idea can blow another (once) good idea=
=20
out of the water, can you afford to not take advantage of every opportunity=
=20
you get to discover new ideas? Oh, and the IETF has got to be one of the=
=20
cheapest (financially) conferences to attend anyhow. What was the last
conference you attended that was not >=3D $995--just to get in the door?
I'm not sure I buy the "real operators don't have time to do these sorts of=
=20
things" idea. I've certainly worked and felt at times that there's no way=
=20
that I'd have time for anything else, but that is the short-sighed way of=
=20
thinking when it gets imprinted in your brain and always used as an excuse.
Q: The benefit to shareholders (if I was asked)?
A: *Your* network architects, engineers, operators, product managers, and
researchers get to communicate with and discover knowledge and ideas with l=
ots
of other architects, engineers, operators, product managers, and researcher=
s.
Would you like our company to miss out on that wealth of knowledge? (And t=
hat=20
is to say nothing of the morale gained in allowing your employees to meet w=
ith
their peers.)
-jr
The opinions above actually *are* my employers, because *I* am my employer.
Oh, but the grammatical errors are my own. :)
----
Josh Richards [JTR38/JR539-ARIN]
<jrichard@cubicle.net/fix.net/freedom.gen.ca.us/geekresearch.com>
Geek Research LLC - <URL:http://www.geekresearch.com/>
IP Network Engineering and Consulting
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