Internet Architecture Board (IAB) S. Trowbridge, Ed. Internet Draft Alcatel-Lucent Obsoletes: 3356 E. Lear, Ed. Intended status: Informational Cisco Systems Expires: October 9, 2012 April 5, 2012 Internet Engineering Task Force and International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunications Standardization Sector Collaboration Guidelines draft-iab-rfc3356bis-00 Abstract This document provides guidance to aid in the understanding of collaboration on standards development between the International Telecommunication Union -- Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and the Internet Society (ISOC) / Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It is an update of and obsoletes RFC 3356. The updates reflect changes in the IETF and ITU-T since RFC 3356 was written. The bulk of this document is common text with ITU-T Supplement 3 to the ITU-T A-Series Recommendations. Note: This was approved by ITU-T TSAG on xx July 2012 as a Supplement to the ITU-T A-Series of Recommendations (will be numbered as A-Series Supplement 3). Status of this Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress". Trowbridge, et. al. Expires June 6, 2012 [Page 1] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on July 9, 2012. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License. S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 2] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 Table of Contents 1. Scope..........................................................4 2. Introduction...................................................4 3. Guidance on Collaboration......................................5 3.1. How to Interact on ITU-T or IETF Work Items...............5 3.1.1. How the ITU-T is informed about Existing IETF Work Items ............................................................5 3.1.2. How the ITU-T is informed about proposed new IETF work items.......................................................6 3.1.3. How the IETF is informed about ITU-T Work Items......6 3.2. Representation............................................7 3.2.1. IETF Recognition at ITU-T............................7 3.2.2. ITU-T Recognition at ISOC/IETF.......................7 3.2.3. Communication Contacts...............................7 3.2.4. Communication........................................8 3.2.5. Mailing Lists........................................8 3.3. Document Sharing..........................................9 3.3.1. IETF to ITU-T........................................9 3.3.2. ITU-T to IETF.......................................10 3.3.3. ITU-T & IETF........................................10 3.4. Simple Cross Referencing.................................11 3.5. Preliminary Work Efforts.................................11 3.6. Additional Items.........................................11 3.6.1. Useful Information to ITU-T participations on the IETF11 3.6.2. Current ITU-T information can be found on the ITU website: (includes contacts, organization, Recommendations for purchase, mailing list info, etc.).........................12 4. Security Considerations.......................................13 5. IANA Considerations...........................................13 6. References....................................................13 6.1. Normative References.....................................13 6.2. Non-normative References.................................14 7. Acknowledgements..............................................14 8. Changes since RFC3356.........................................14 9. Authors' Addresses............................................15 S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 3] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 [The following note to be removed upon publication as an RFC] Editors' Note: This Informational Internet-Draft is intended for publication as an RFC with the IAB stream, and is subject to the publication process described in RFC 4845. 1. Scope This document provides guidance to aid in the understanding of collaboration on standards development between the ITU-T and the Internet Society (ISOC) / Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). In the IETF, work is done in Working Groups (WG), mostly through open, public mailing lists rather than face-to-face meetings. WGs are organized into Areas, each Area being managed by two co- Area Directors. Collectively, the Area Directors comprise the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). In the ITU-T, work is defined by study Questions which are worked on mostly through meetings led by Rapporteurs. Questions are generally grouped within Working Parties (WPs) led by a WP Chairman. Working Parties report to a parent Study Group led by a SG Chairman. Work may also be conducted in ITU-T focus groups (see 3.5. ) 2. Introduction The telecommunication industry is faced with an explosion in growth of the Internet and other IP (Internet Protocol) based networks. Operators, manufacturers and software/application providers alike are reconsidering their business directions and Standards Development Organizations and Forums and Consortia are facing an immense challenge to address this situation. These challenges were considered by TSAG in September 1998 and IETF shortly thereafter, when it was initially recognized that the ITU-T and ISOC/IETF were already collaborating in a number of areas, and that this collaboration must be strengthened within the context of changes in work emphasis and direction within the ITU-T on studies related to IP based networks. For example, many Study Groups already address aspects of IP based networks. There are many topics of interest to ITU-T Study Groups in the IP area that should be investigated (e.g., signaling, routing, security, numbering & addressing, integrated S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 4] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 management, performance, IP - telecom interworking, access). Since many of these topics are also being investigated by the IETF, there is a requirement for close collaboration. The current level of cooperation between the ITU-T and the IETF should be built upon to ensure that the competence and experience of each organization is brought to bear in the most effective manner and in collaboration with the other. This document provides guidelines for collaboration between the ITU-T and the IETF. 3. Guidance on Collaboration This section builds on existing collaborative processes and details some of the more important guidance points that each organization should be aware of for effective collaboration. 3.1. How to Interact on ITU-T or IETF Work Items Study Groups that have identified work topics that are IP- related should evaluate the relationship with topics defined in the IETF. Current IETF Working Groups and their charters (IETF definition of the scope of work) are listed in the IETF archives (see section 3.5). A Study Group may decide that development of a Recommendation on a particular topic may benefit from collaboration with the IETF. The Study Group should identify this collaboration in its work plan (specifically in that of each Question involved), describing the goal of the collaboration and its expected outcome. An IETF Working Group should also evaluate and identify areas of relationship with the ITU-T and document the collaboration with the ITU-T Study Group in its charter. The following sections outline a process that can be used to enable each group to be informed about the other's new work items. 3.1.1. How the ITU-T is informed about Existing IETF Work Items The responsibility is on individual Study Groups to review the current IETF Working Groups to determine if there are any topics of mutual interest. Should a Study Group believe that there is an opportunity for collaboration on a topic of mutual interest, it should contact both the IETF Working Group Chair and the Area Director(s) responsible. This may be accompanied by a formal liaison statement (see 3.2.4. ). S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 5] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 3.1.2. How the ITU-T is informed about proposed new IETF work items The IETF maintains a mailing list for the distribution of proposed new work items among standards development organizations. Many such items can be identified in proposed Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions, as well as draft charters for working groups. The IETF forwards all such draft charters for all new and revised Working Groups and Birds Of a Feather session announcements to the IETF NewWork mailing list. An ITU-T mail mailing list is subscribed to this list. Leadership of Study Groups may subscribe to this ITU-T mailing list, which is maintained by the TSB. Members of the SG- specific listname may include the SG Chairman, SG Vice Chairmen, Working Party Chairmen, concerned Rapporteurs, other experts designated by the SG and the SG Counselor. This will enable the SGs to monitor the new work items for possible overlap or interest to their Study Group. It is expected that this mailing list will see a few messages per month. Each SG Chairman, or designated representative, may provide comments on these charters by responding to the IESG mailing list at iesg@ietf.org clearly indicating their ITU-T position and the nature of their concern. Plain-text email is preferred on the IESG mailing list. It should be noted that the IETF turnaround time for new Working Group charters is two weeks. As a result, the mailing list should be consistently monitored. 3.1.3. How the IETF is informed about ITU-T Work Items The ITU-T accepts new areas of work through the creation or update of Questions. In addition, the ITU-T work programme is documented in the Questions of each Study Group. These can be found on the ITU-T web site. Study Groups should send updates to the IETF NewWork mailing list as new Questions are created, terms of reference for Questions are updated, or otherwise when there is reason to believe that a particular effort might be of interest to the IETF. Area Directors or WG Chairs should provide comments through liaison statements or direct email to the relevant SG Chairman in cases of possible overlap or interest. S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 6] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 3.2. Representation ISOC, including its standards body IETF, is a Sector Member of the ITU-T. As a result, ISOC delegates are therefore afforded the same rights as other ITU-T Sector Members (see 3.2.1). Conversely, ITU-T delegates may participate in the work of the IETF as representatives of the ITU-T (see 3.2.2). To promote collaboration it is useful to facilitate communication between the organizations as further described below. 3.2.1. IETF Recognition at ITU-T Experts and representatives from the IETF that are chosen by IETF leadership may participate in ITU-T meetings as ISOC delegates. The ISOC focal point will facilitate registration and verification of these people, as appropriate. 3.2.2. ITU-T Recognition at ISOC/IETF ITU-T Study Group Chairmen can authorize one or more members to attend an IETF meeting as an official ITU-T delegate speaking authoritatively on behalf of the activities of the Study Group (or a particular Rapporteur Group). The Study Group Chairman sends the ITU-T list of delegates by email to the Working Group chair, with a copy to the Area Directors, and also to the Study Group. Note that, according to IETF process, opinions expressed by any such delegate are given equal weight with opinions expressed by other working group participants. 3.2.3. Communication Contacts To foster ongoing communication between the ITU-T and IETF, it is important to identify and establish contact points within each organization. Contact points may include: 1. ITU-T Study Group Chairman and IETF Area Director An IETF Area Director is the individual responsible for overseeing a major focus of activity with a scope similar to that of an ITU-T Study Group Chairman. These positions are both relatively long-term (of several years) and offer the stability of contact points between the two organizations for a given topic. 2. ITU-T Rapporteur and IETF Working Group Chair An IETF Working Group Chair is an individual who is assigned to lead the work on a specific task within one particular Area S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 7] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 with a scope similar to that of an ITU-T Rapporteur. These positions are working positions (of a year or more) that typically end when the work on a specific topic ends. Collaboration here is very beneficial to ensure the actual work gets done. 3. Other Contact Points It may be beneficial to establish additional contact points for specific topics of mutual interest. These contact points should be established early in the work effort, and in some cases the contact point identified by each organization may be the same individual. Note that the current IETF Area Directors and Working Group Chairs can be found in the IETF Working Group charters. The current ITU-T Study Group Chairmen and Rapporteurs are listed on the ITU-T web page. 3.2.4. Communication Informal communication between contact points and experts of both organizations is encouraged. However, note that formal communication from an ITU-T Study Group, Working Party or Rapporteur to an associated IETF contact point must be explicitly approved and identified as coming from the Study Group, Working Party or Rapporteur Group, respectively. Formal liaison statements from the ITU-T to the IETF are transmitted according to the procedures described in [2]. These liaison statements are placed by the IETF onto a liaison statements web page at https://datatracker.ietf.org/liaison/. An individual at the IETF is assigned responsibility for dealing with each liaison statement that is received. The name and contact information of the responsible person and any applicable deadline is listed with the links to the liaison statement on this web page. Formal liaison statements from the IAB, the IETF, an IETF Working Group or or Area to the ITU-T are generated, approved, and transmitted according to the procedures described in [2]. Formal communication is intended to allow the sharing of positions between the IETF and the ITU-T outside of actual documents (as described in 3.3). This covers such things as comments on documents and requests for input. 3.2.5. Mailing Lists All IETF Working Groups and all ITU-T Study Group Questions have associated mailing lists. S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 8] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 In the IETF, the mailing list is the primary vehicle for discussion and decision-making. It is recommended that the ITU-T experts interested in particular IETF Working Group topics subscribe to and participate in these lists. IETF WG mailing lists are open to all subscribers. The IETF Working Group mailing list subscription and archive information are noted in each Working Group's charter. In the ITU-T, the TSB has set up formal mailing lists for Questions, Working Parties and other topics within Study Groups (more detail can be found on the ITU website). These mailing lists are typically used for ITU-T correspondence, including technical discussion, meeting logistics, reports, etc. Note that individual subscribers to this list must be affiliated with an ITU-T member or associate (at this time, there is no blanket inclusion of all IETF participants as members, however, as a member, the ISOC focal point can facilitate access by IETF technical experts, liaison representatives, or liaison managers). Any IETF participant may subscribe to ITU-T focus group email lists. 3.3. Document Sharing During the course of ITU-T and IETF collaboration it is important to share working drafts and documents among the technical working groups. Initially proposed concepts and specifications typically can be circulated by email (often just repeating the concept and not including the details of the specification) on both the IETF and ITU- T mailing lists. In addition, working texts (or URLs) of draft Recommendations, Internet Drafts or RFCs may also be sent between the organizations as described below. Internet-Drafts are available on the IETF web site. The ITU-T can make selected ITU-T documents at any stage of development available to IETF by attaching them to a formal liaison statement. Although a communication can point to a URL where a non-ASCII document (e.g., Word) can be downloaded, attachments in proprietary formats to an IETF mailing list are discouraged. It should also be recognized that the official version of all IETF documents are in ASCII. 3.3.1. IETF to ITU-T IETF documents (e.g., Internet-Drafts) or URLs of those documents are most commonly transmitted to ITU-T Study Groups as liaison statements (see [2]), but exceptionally can be submitted to a Study Group as a Contribution from ISOC. In order to ensure that the IETF has properly authorized this, the IETF Working Group must agree that the specific drafts are of mutual interest, that there is a benefit in forwarding them to the ITU-T for review, comment and potential use and that the document status is accurately represented in the cover letter. Once agreed, the appropriate Area Directors would review the S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 9] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 Working Group request and give approval. The contributions would then be forwarded (with the noted approval) to the TSB for circulation as a Study Group Contribution (see 3.2.4). The rules of the IETF Trust are followed in these circumstances[RFC5378]. 3.3.2. ITU-T to IETF A Study Group or Working Party may send texts of draft new or revised Recommendations, clearly indicating their status, to the IETF as contributions in the form of liaison statements or Internet Drafts. Internet Drafts are IETF temporary documents that expire six months after being published. The Study Group or Working Party must decide that there is a benefit in forwarding them to the IETF for review, comment and potential use. Terms of reference for Rapporteur Group meetings may authorize Rapporteur Groups to send working documents, in the form of Internet Drafts, to the IETF. If the Study Group or Working Party elects to transmit the text as an Internet-Draft, the document editor would be instructed to prepare the contribution in Internet Draft format (in ASCII and optionally postscript format as per [RFC2223]) and upload it via https://datatracker.ietf.org/idst/upload.cgi. Alternatively, the Study Group, Working Party or Rapporteur Group could attach the text to a formal liaison statement. Both the Rapporteur and the Document Editor should be identified as contacts in the contribution. The document should also clearly indicate the state of development in a particular ITU-T Study Group. Note that liaison statements are made publicly available on the IETF web site. 3.3.3. ITU-T & IETF It is envisaged that the processes of 3.3.1 & 3.3.2 will often be used simultaneously by both an IETF Working Group and an ITU-T Study Group to collaborate on a topic of mutual interest. It is also envisaged that the outcome of the collaboration will be the documentation in full by one body and its referencing by the other (see section 3.4 for details). That is, common or joint text is discouraged because of the current differences in procedures for document approval and revision. Where complementary work is being undertaken in both organizations that will result in Recommendations or RFCs, due allowance should be given to the differing perspectives, working methods, and procedures of the two organizations. That is, each organization should understand the other organization's procedures and strive to respect them in the collaboration. S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 10] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 3.4. Simple Cross Referencing ITU-T Recommendation A.5 describes the process for including references to documents of other organizations in ITU-T Recommendations. Information specific to referencing IETF RFCs is found at http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu- t/oth/3E/01/T3E010000010001MSWE.doc. IETF RFC2026, specifically section 7.1.1, describes the process for referencing other open standards (like ITU-T Recommendations) in IETF RFCs. 3.5. Preliminary Work Efforts Both ITU-T and IETF provide mechanisms for early discussion of potential new work areas prior to the official start of work in a Study Group or creation of an IETF working group. Objectives, methods and procedures for the creation and operation of ITU-T focus groups are described in ITU-T Recommendation A.7. Focus groups are frequently created in new work areas where the division of work across various ITU-T Study Groups and other standards development organizations is not yet clear. IETF participants who are not members or associates of ITU-T may participate fully in the work of ITU-T focus groups. In the IETF, guidance for Birds Of a Feather (BoF) sessions is provided in RFC5434. Efforts that have not yet reached the working group stage may be discussed in BOF sessions. These sessions typically gauge interest in pursuing creation of working groups. In some cases, these discussions continue on mailing lists. 3.6. Additional Items 3.6.1. Useful Information to ITU-T participations on the IETF Information on IETF procedures may be found in the documents and URLs below. Note that RFCs do not change after they are published. Rather they are either obsoleted or updated by other RFCs. Such updates are tracked in the rfc-index.txt file indicated below. RFC 2028 - The Organizations involved in the IETF Standards Process, October 1996. The Tao of the IETF - A Novice's Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force, http://www.ietf.org/tao.html. RFC 3935 - A Mission Statement for the IETF, October 2004 S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 11] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 RFC2026 - The Internet Standards Process Revision 3, October 1996 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2026.txt RFC2418 - IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures, September 1998 http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2418.txt RFC5434 - Considerations for Having a Successful Birds-of-a-Feather (BOF) Session, February 2009 http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5434.txt Current list and status of all IETF RFCs: ftp://ftp.ietf.org/rfc/rfc-index.txt Current list and description of all IETF Internet Drafts: ftp://ftp.ietf.org/internet-drafts/1id-abstracts.txt Current list of IETF Working Groups and their Charters: (includes Area Directors and Chair contacts, Mailing list information, etc.) http://www.ietf.org/dyn/wg/charter.html Current list of registered BOFs http://trac.tools.ietf.org/bof/trac/ RFC Editor pages about publishing RFCs, including available tools and lots of guidance: http://www.rfc-editor.org/pubprocess.html Current list of liaison statements: https://datatracker.ietf.org/liaison/ IETF Intellectual Property Rights Policy and Notices: http://www.ietf.org/ipr/ 3.6.2. Current ITU-T information can be found on the ITU website: (includes contacts, organization, Recommendations for purchase, mailing list info, etc.) ITU-T Main page: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T List of all ITU-T Recommendations: http://www.itu.int/itu-t/recommendations/index.aspx ITU-T Study Group main page for Study Group NN (where NN is the 2- digit SG number): http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/comNN/index.asp S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 12] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 Intellectual Property policies, forms and databases: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/ipr/Pages/default.aspx Current list of active ITU-T focus Groups http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/Pages/default.aspx ITU-T operational matters including: Recommendation A.1 - Study Group work methods Recommendation A.2 - Preparation of written contributions Recommendation A.4 - Communication process between ITU-T and forums and consortia Recommendation A.5 - Include reference to documents of other organizations in ITU-T Recs Recommendation A.7 - Focus groups: Working methods and procedures Recommendation A.8 - Alternative Approval Process for Recommendations http://www.itu.int/itu-t/recommendations/index.aspx?ser=A ITU T Procedures including: Resolution 1 - Rules of Procedure for ITU-T Resolution 2 - Study Group responsibility and mandates http://www.itu.int/publ/T-RES/en Authors Guide for drafting ITU-T Recommendations: http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu- t/oth/0A/0F/T0A0F0000040003MSWE.docxh Templates for contributions and liaison statements: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/templates/index.html 4. Security Considerations Documents that describe cooperation procedures, like this one does, have no direct Internet security implications. 5. IANA Considerations No new IANA considerations. 6. References 6.1. Normative References [1] Daigle, L, Ed. "IAB Processes for Management of IETF Liaison Relationships", RFC 4052, BCP 102, April 2005. S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 13] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 [2] Trowbridge, S, Bradner, S, and Baker, F, "Procedures for Handling Liaison Statements to and from the IETF", RFC4053, BCP 103, April 2005. 6.2. Informative References [3] Bradner. S, "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996. [4] Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Instructions to RFC Authors", RFC 2223, October 1997. [5] Brett, R., Bradner, S. and G. Parsons, "Collaboration between ISOC/IETF and ITU-T", RFC 2436, October 1998. [6] Fishman, G and Bradner, S, "Internet Engineering Task Force and International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunications Standardization Sector Collaboration Guidelines", RFC 3356, August 2002. 7. Acknowledgements This document is based on the text from RFCs 2436 and 3356 and benefited greatly from discussions during the January 2012 ITU-T TSAG meeting. 8. Changes since RFC3356 Authorization of liaison managers and liaison representatives from IETF to ITU-T are updated per current IETF procedures documented in [1]. Transmission of formal liaison statements between ITU-T and IETF are updated per current IETF procedures documented in [2]. Description is added of preliminary efforts including ITU-T focus groups and IETF BOFs. ITU-T focus group participation is not limited to ITU-T members. Obsolete URLs in RFC3356 from both the ITU-T and IETF web sites are updated. S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 14] Internet-Draft IETF and ITU-T Collaboration Guidelines January 2012 9. Authors' Addresses Steve Trowbridge Alcatel-Lucent Email: steve.trowbridge@alcatel-lucent.com Eliot Lear Cisco Systems GmbH Richtistrasse 7 8304 Wallisellen Switzerland Phone: +41 44 878 9200 Email: lear@cisco.com S. Trowbridge Expires October 5, 2012 [Page 15]