IASA Meeting 1:00 PM CST March 9, 2005
IASA Meeting 1:00 PM CST March 9, 2005, in Minneapolis.
Participants :
Harald Alvestrand
Lynn St. Amour
Brian Carpenter [guest]
Jorge Contreras [guest]
Steve Crocker
Leslie Daigle
Mark Foster [guest]
Robert (Bob) Kahn [guest]
Kurtis Lindqvist
Lucy Lynch
Patrice Lyon [guest]
Marshall Eubanks [scribe]
Agenda :
Discussion of transition status with Mark Foster (NeuStar).
Discussion of presentation before the IETF Plenary.
Discussion of transition status with Robert Kahn (CNRI).
The meeting opened, as planned, with the full transition team, Brian Carpenter, Jorge Contreras and
Mark Foster in attendance. Bob Kahn and Patrice Lyon were scheduled to arrive for the last half
hour of the meeting.
Mark Foster described the recent process as seen by NeuStar, and announced that they were prepared
to proceed with a trust structure. He expressed a hope that agreement could be reached rapidly on
the IETF IPR, so that the NeuStar contract could move forward, and so that a transitional structure
to hold the IPR would not be required. He also announced that he expected to have a draft purchase
agreement ready for review within a few weeks.
Brian Carpenter explained to Mark that the IAOC would become operational when the sixth member is
appointed. ISOC has appointed Steve Crocker as their member, three others are well defined, and he
was confident that the other two would be in place by the first week of April.
Brian Carpenter explained that the IETF wanted to improve
the meeting performance, and that more performance metrics would be desirable. It is also important
to capture the full operational experience from the Secretariat and IETF participants. Mark Foster
agreed, but reminded the Team that things had not
yet progressed to the point where it was appropriate to tender offers of employment, but he would
meet with the staff while at the meeting.
Mark acknowledged that the process longer than he had anticipated last year, but he felt that the
time spent had been valuable.
The Team and Foster discussed the payment structure to cover
operating expenses. NeuStar accountants are reviewing the
expenses for previous meetings, and he expected that a draft budget would be ready within a few
weeks. He expressed confidence that there would be efficiencies from NeuStar's IT infrastructure,
and from reengineering the management process in the light of past experience.
Jorge Contreras expressed concern that the tax implications of a new trust structure were not well
understood. Mark Foster said that the NeuStar counsel, John Spirtos and Jeff Newman, did not see any
particular tax issues, but that IASA should of course conduct its own analysis.
Discussion then moved to the presentation at the IETF Plenary.
Leslie Daigle described her draft slides for the presentation,
which was followed by extensive editorial discussion.
[at this point Bob Kahn came into the room with Patrice Lyons]
Leslie Daigle started discussions with Bob Kahn by showing him the revised slides for the IETF
Plenary, and these were described in detail.
Discussions then moved to the NeuStar contract status. Bob Kahn reminded the Team that CNRI was
entering into a deal with NeuStar, and that the neither the IASA nor the IETF was a direct party to
these negotiations. He expressed confidence that these negotiations could be completed in 2 weeks to
a month.
Bob Kahn explained his thinking behind the IPR Trust. He was worried that without such a mechanism
the IETF IPR could have fragmented ownership, with fragmentation growing with each change in the
meeting contractor, so that future changes could be faced with extensive licensing negotiations,
thereby complicating the IETF's ability to act. He suggested that IPR held by other parties be held
in the same trust.
Brian Carpenter said that this was an interesting idea, but as he had just heard of it, he could not
comment on it before he had had a chance to analyze it, and that it would take time to obtain IETF
consensus on such a deep matter of principle.
Mark Foster suggested that the Secretariat IPR be placed in a trust first, and that other IPR could
be included later as the IASA gains confidence and experience in the trust,
The timing of the Trust was then discussed. Mark Foster reminded both the Team and Bob Kahn that
NeuStar desired that the Trust instantiation be synchronized with the NeuStar closing. As long as
the IAOC is ready in April, the Trust can begin with the IAOC as the trustee, and no transition
mechanism would be necessary.
Brian Carpenter said that he felt very positive about the discussion at the meeting. The idea of
placing all IPR in the Trust was interesting, but needed further thought, which he promised to do
quickly.
Bob Kahn said, as a closing thought, that while the direction on the IASA transition was not
necessarily the direction that he would have taken, he thought that the result of the IASA process
was leading to a good outcome.
At that point, Harald Alvestrand declared the meeting closed.