There are currently several different organizations working on various
measurement and performance 'standards' for the Internet and IP-related
networks.
IETF has created a couple of working groups working on benchmarking
and metrics.
IOPS says they plan to be a point of contact for developing various
industry-wide technical procedures.
ATIS/T1 (an ANSI standards organization) is developing two vital Internet
performance standards and three technical reports.
ANX, The Automotive Network Exchange, has documented several requirements
including metrics for service quality.
Bellcore has some Internet related work in their new GR standards.
And, of course while it doesn't develop anything formal, NANOG has
occasional presentations from various other industry organizations.
Most of the above have said in their press releases they are working
with other standards bodies, but it isn't very clear how much inter-
organizational communications actual occurs.
And I suspect there are a few more I don't know about. It would be
nice if this work could be consolidated into one place. I, for one,
don't have the time or the money to even attempt active involvement
in half these groups.
>>Since you suggest IOPS as a body to track this issue, what do people think
>>about IOPS as a pseudo-standards group. This also came up at the December
>>IETF when Curtis suggested that draft-berkowitz-multirqmt document would
>>not be necessary since IOPS had a draft on the same subject. The IDR WG
>>seemed very sceptical of having a small closed body fill that role. How do
>>people see IOPS meshing with NANOG and the operational side of IETF?
>>
>
>I have a little bit of a problem when people refer to IOPS as a
>"standards organization." A "standards" body needs to be open.
>
>Is IOPS an open group? No.
>
>Can anyone in the Internet community participate? No, they have to
>be a member of the collective, and pay a membership fee ranging from
>between US$9500 to US$25000.
>
>IOPS is free to define all of the operations guides that they desire,
>but it can't really be referred to as a "standards organization" since
>it is a private club. :-/
--
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Affiliation given for identification not representation
