An important role of the IAB is to manage and assist with coordination activities among the IETF, IAB, and various other organizations involved in the development of Internet-related technologies. In practice, this oversight role involves several components described below.
The IETF has a number of formal liaison relationships with other organizations. These liaison relationships are established by the IAB when it feels that conditions warrant appointing a specific person to manage the inter-organization coordination. Once the liaison relationship is established, the IAB appoints a liaison manager to act as the IETF-side point of contact. A list of the current IETF liaison relationships, and their corresponding IETF manager, can be found on the IETF website Liaison Managers page.
When an IETF liaison manager sends a liaison statement to a partner organization, or when a partner organization communicates with the IETF, the correspondence is entered into the Liaison Statements management tool.
Most communication occurs between the IETF liaison manager and the partner organization directly, through the Liaison Statement tool, with the IAB performing only an oversight function. Occasionally correspondence is directed to, or sent by, the IAB itself. If there is an existing liaison relationship with the partner organization, this correspondence will also be archived in the Liaison Statement repository. If there is not a formal liaison relationship already established, the correspondence will generally be posted to the IAB correspondence page.
Some IETF liaison managers send reports to the IAB for publication to the wider community. This practice was more common in the past, and previous reports are archived here.
It should be noted that the number of formal liaison relationships is somewhat small, as the best way for most organizations to work with the IETF is to do so through IETF working groups. The primary contact regarding the establishment of a new liaison relationship is the IAB.
In addition to establishing and appointing liaisons for the IETF, the IAB also maintains several direct liaisons with closely affiliated groups:
IAB Liaison to the IESG: Danny McPherson IESG Liaison to the IAB: Ron Bonica RFC Editor Liaison to the IAB: Glenn Kowack (T-RSE) ISOC Liaison to the IAB: Lynn St.Amour (ISOC President) IRTF Liaison to the IAB: Aaron Falk (IRTF Chair) IAB Liaison to Nomcom 2011: Spencer Dawkins
This page is maintained by the IAB Executive Director for the IAB.