About the Internet Society 

Board of Trustees

Minutes of Meeting 14

20 - 21 July 1998, Geneva

Author(s):  G.  Huston (Secretary)
Date:       1998.7.28
Committee:  BoT
Document:   98-xx
Revision:   2
Supersedes:
Status:     Adopted
Maintainer: G.  Huston
Access:     Unrestricted

The Annual General Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Internet Society, a non profit corporation organized under the laws of the District of Columbia, U.S.A. ("ISOC"), was held pursuant to notice at the Holiday Inn, Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday July 20 1998 and Tuesday July 21 1998.

Frode Greisen, Chairman of the ISOC Board of Trustees, assumed the duties of Chairman of the Meeting and called the Meeting to order at 1:40pm on July 20 1998. Geoff Huston, Secretary of the ISOC Board of Trustees, assumed the duties of Secretary of the Meeting and recorded the Minutes.

1. Attendance

The following members of the Board of Trustees were present at the Meeting:

A quorum was present on both days.

Also attending the meeting were:

The chair welcomed as observers to the meeting the elected Trustees who assume office at the adjournment of the meeting:

The meeting was open to observers.

2. Agenda

The agenda for the meeting was circulated prior to the meeting.

3. Approval of Minutes

The Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Trustees held on December 12 - 13 1997, at Washington, D.C., U.S.A., had been distributed for review prior to this Meeting (ISOC Board of Trustees Document - Minutes of Meeting 13).

The Minutes were unanimously approved.

4. Ratification of Electronic Votes

The Board ratified the suspension of the charter of the Thailand Chapter of the Internet Society.

The Board ratified the adoption of the 1998 ISOC Budget.

The Board ratified the acceptance of RFC 2282.

The Board ratified the confirmation of IAB members.

The Board ratified the adoption of the ISOC response to the US Green Paper.

The Board ratified the adoption of the ISOC statement in response to the US White Paper.

5. President's Report

The President, Don Heath, spoke to his report.

The President reported on the increasing intensity and volume of issues and activities requiring the attention of ISOC:

• The Society's participation in the Internet Domain Name System and broader Internet governance issues has now extended over two years, with greater calls for attention in the recent past.
• Undertaking international conferences has become a more challenging task, with many other conferences competing for attention and attendance.
• The Network Training Workshop remains the mainstay of the Society's educational program, and it was noted that 1998 saw the introduction of multiple workshops, conducted in two locations, in four languages.
• ISOC Chapter activity is also rising, with increased interest in chapter formation worldwide. In addition chapters are asserting a positive and influential role within local and regional Internet activities.
• The ISOC publications "OnTheInternet" and the ISOC Forum continue to be produced on time, with high quality content.

The Society has been very active in the area of governance and policy development, and has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission, the Information and Communication Technology MoU, allowing ISOC to cooperate with European industry and government in the area of issue resolution.

In addition ISOC has been playing a role within the International Forum on the White Paper, intended to reach international consensus on the resolution of the DNS and of the administration of the functions currently under IANA including domain names, IP allocations, protocol parameters, and the root servers.

The longstanding ISOC and CNRI trademark dispute regarding registration of the name "Internet" remains unresolved at this stage, with no clear indication of whether a settlement is reachable.

The effort of securing a sound financial foundation for ISOC is progressing well, with the objective of reaching a funding reserve of some 6 to 9 months operating costs. The cash flow position is improving, and a financially successful INET'98 conference would be a significant boost to the cash flow position.

The President noted that ISOC is now on track financially and well positioned to tackle the next set of challenges.

6. Conference Report

The Vice President for Conferences, George Sadowsky, reported to the Board on conference activities.

6.1 INET'97

The Board noted that the finances of INET'97 are still unconcluded, with a number of outstanding accounts with the local conference host for INET'97. ISOC's total loss for INET'97, if no further money is recovered, will total some USD 302,000, and the Vice President and President were urged to recover as much of the sums owing as possible.

The Board unanimously adopted the following resolution concerning the conclusion of the INET'97 finances.

6.2 INET'98

This report was presented immediately prior to the conference. The Vice-President for Conferences anticipated a successful conference, with an initial favorable outlook on both conference attendance and finances, in accordance with the conference budget.

The Board noted with gratitude the efforts of the Conference Chairs, the Program Committee, the Sponsor chairs and the Conference hosts, the Geneva Chapter of ISOC, in working to make the conference a success.

6.3 INET'99 and INET'2000

It was reported to the Board that INET'99 will be held in San Jose on 22 - 25 June 1999. At this stage the Conference Committee and Program Chair are yet to be finalized, and rapid completion of these tasks is essential for the conference.

An ISOC Request For Proposals (RFP) is being prepared for INET'2000. The draft will be completed following the conclusion of INET'98, and then released to parties who had indicated interest in hosting the conference.

The Board noted that the number of Internet-related conferences had picked up dramatically in recent years, making competitive attention to the INET conference a major issue. The Board discussed various options for the conference, and noted that some market research input would assist the Society in ensuring that future INET conferences would be effective both in terms of content, attendance and financial performance.

6.4 Network Technology Workshops

The Board was informed of the successful undertaking of the 1998 Network Technology Workshops.

One stream of the workshops was hosted in Geneva, with four English tracks and 2 French language tracks. This stream had 162 students, drawn from 70 countries, and 43 teaching staff, drawn from some 18 countries. The Board's thanks were extended to Cisco Systems for the loan of equipment, and publishers O'Reilly and Wiley for the donation of some 4,500 lbs. of books that were distributed to students.

The second stream was hosted in Rio De Janeiro, where 125 students were taught in Spanish and Portuguese in 4 tracks.

The Board expressed its thanks to the workshop organizers.

6.5 NDSS'98

NDSS'98 concluded with a net financial outcome of USD 7,000 from a conference budget of USD 95,000. The Board noted that the attendance levels for this conference had dropped in response to a more competitive conference environment. It was recorded as the sense of the Board to continue with NDSS'99, but to review the situation as to further NDSS conferences at the next Board meeting.

7. Publications Report

Wendy Rickard Bollentin reported to the Board on the status of ISOC publications.

It was noted that the publication 'OnTheInternet' is being produced on time on a bimonthly basis. This publication is now complemented with an ISOC web site which contains full text of selected articles, advertising information and tables of contents. Advertising revenue for this publication remains below target, due in large part to the inability to secure an advertising representative or firm to handle this activity.

The ISOC Forum, the society's electronic newsletter continues to publish monthly. There is a fair degree of positive response from the Society's membership regarding this publication.

8. Financial Report

The Board considered the audited statement of the financial position of the Internet Society as of 31 December 1997. The total assets of the Society at this date was USD 1,212,906. Total revenue for the year was recorded at USD 2,981,700, and total expenses were USD 3,344,829, with an operating loss for the year of USD 363,129. It was noted that the major factor of this outcome was associated with INET'97 activities.

The Board unanimously adopted Resolution 98-10.

The Board considered monthly cash flow reports for 1998, noting that the cash reserved for the society was three months operating expenses, still below a secure operating margin. Further effort regarding corporate membership was required from all Board members.

The Board considered a balance sheet for ISOC as of 30 June 1998, together with an activity breakdown of income and expenses for the first six months of operation of the Society. The Board noted that assets have been built to USD 1,670,891, with a total fund balance of USD 504,629.

The Board noted the current membership report, including the current accounts receivable list. The Board requested the preparation of aged 60 and 90 day reports, to allow Board members to assist the Secretariat in the collection of organizational dues.

9. Elections Report

The Board noted the report from the 1998 Elections Chair, Scott Bradner, concerning the outcome of the 1998 Trustee Elections. It was noted that election ballots returns were 1,443, or 25%.

The Board noted that no challenges had been issued, and confirmed the elections result. Those elected to serve as trustees for 1998 - 2001 were Tim O'Reilly, Vinton Cerf, Christian Huitema, Geoff Huston and Kees Neggers.

10. Legal Report

The President reported on the current status of the legal action regarding the registration of the term "Internet". While a settlement was anticipated earlier in 1998, current indications are that the action will progress to discovery. The Board endorsed the President to continue with this legal action within the budget allocation for this activity for 1998.

11. ISOC Membership

The Board considered a report of the Vice President for Organizational Members, Christine Maxwell, regarding options for increasing levels of membership in the Society.

The report explored the potential benefits through exercising an option of outsourcing ISOC membership administration, defining a 'association level' membership of ISOC, and a set of additional membership benefits relating to a discount in the purchase of goods and services.

The Board passed Resolution 98-11, following consideration of this report.

12. Chapters

The Vice President for Chapters, Vint Cerf, reported to the Board on the current status of ISOC Chapters.

It was noted that 33 chapters have been chartered by ISOC to date, with 14 chartered in the 12 months to July 1998. The Thailand Chapter is currently in suspension. A further 60 chapters are in discussion with ISOC over incorporation, with a total of close to 80 chartered chapters estimated to be active by the end of 1998.

The efforts of Jane Benson, Terry Weigler, Gordon Howell and Alan McCluskey in supporting chapter incorporation and activities were noted with appreciation.

There was Board discussion of a lower fee schedule for parts of the developing world, and the matter of maintaining the 25 member requirement for Chapter viability. These matters were nominated as areas for further development by the ISOC Chapter support team.

The Board unanimously adopted Resolution 98-12.

13. Standards Report

The Vice President for Standards, Scott Bradner reported to the Board. It was noted that the relationship between ISOC and the IETF is now without stress. It was also noted that Internet Standards are now referred to by the ITU. The Board also noted the current status with respect to the standardization of the IPv6 protocol.

It was also noted that the arrangement for CNRI to provide Secretariat services to the IETF are now in operation, with both the IESG Chair and CNRI in accordance with the arrangement. The Board considered the appropriate framework for this arrangement, and noted that a contract between CNRI and ISOC for the provision of such services was an approach which was recommended by the Board.

14. IAB Report

Brian Carpenter, the Chair of the IAB reported to the Board.

The Board noted the new IANA proposed ByLaws. It was noted that the IAB supported the IFWP process in general terms, and will support the transition to a new IANA structure. It was reported that ISOC would be looking to its resources to fund the IAB Protocol Council under the current proposed new IANA structure. The Board noted this potential fund raising task for the Society. The Board noted that the IAB envisages that it would be called to nominate individuals from the Internet engineering community to participate in the proposed IANA Board, and that the adopted IAB nominations process typically takes some 8 weeks to complete.

The IESG and the IAB had reviewed the RFC Editor proposal, and have endorsed the proposal to ISOC. The Board noted the proposal to the Internet Society for the provision of the RFC Editor task, and requested the President to execute the RFC Editor agreement with ISI.

The IAB had conducted a routing workshop, and had voiced some concern regarding the increasing deployment of various devices which impact on the end-to-end protocol operation of the Internet protocols.

The Board noted that the IAB will revise its charter document (RFC 1601), following completion of the IANA transition activity.

The Board adopted, with one abstention, Resolution 98-13.

15. POC Report

David Maher and Christopher Wilkinson reported to the Board on this matter.

It was reported that the POC has been taking an active stance on DNS issues, and there is notable recognition, particularly within the European region, that the POC / CORE operational model represents one of the more robust proposals for operation of the generic namespace. It was also reported that the ISOC European chapters are now actively engaged in public policy debate in the community at large.

It was also reported that the POC experience has lead to an active European community role in Internet policy matters, with an emerging panel of informed European individuals who are capable of representing regional perspectives within the broader Internet policy forum. The POC has proved to be a significant catalyst in this area.

The POC has published an open letter to IANA, indicating support for a corporatized IANA body, with separate councils for names, addresses and protocol activities. In addition the POC has published a study of the economic analysis of name registries, considering the implications of various organizational models of registry operation.

16. ISOC Advisory Council

Stefano Trumpy, the chair of the ISOC Advisory Council reported to the Board on the outcomes of the Advisory Council meeting of 20 July 1998.

The Board unanimously adopted Resolution 98-14.

17. Next Meeting

The next meeting of the ISOC Board of Trustees is scheduled immediately following the adjournment of this meeting, on Tuesday, July 21 1998, in Geneva, Switzerland.

18. Move to Adjourn

The Meeting was adjourned at 3:45pm, 21 July 1998.

Summary of Resolutions

Actions

1. RFC Editor Contract

2. IETF Secretariat Function

3. President's Report

4. INET'97

5. ISOC Chapters