It’s not well understood that the IETF is a group of volunteers. Anyone who turns up, participates, and contributes can be a part of the process. In practice, real contributions are made by those people who have the support of their employers.

As enterprise IT has cut costs, enterprise participation in the IETF has been reduced to almost nothing.

In this show I talk to Darren Petis about his IETF participation with the backing of his enterprise employer and the value that it brings.

Darren is part of the Enterprise Data Center Operators (EDCO) group. Its goal is to represent enterprise interests in standards bodies and regulations, and to encourage and coordinate collaboration and to monitor protocol changes.

Thanks to Huawei, which covered travel and accommodations to enable the Packet Pushers to attend IETF 99 and record some shows to spread the news about what the IETF is up to.