[ipv6-wg] Call for nominations for co-chair position ipv6 working group 20100202

S.P.,

On 2010-01-23 01:04, S.P.Zeidler wrote:
> 
> Thus wrote David Kessens (david.kessens at nsn.com):
> 
>> I already received two nominations for Shane Kerr <shane at time-travellers.org>
>> and Marco Hogewoning <marcoh at marcoh.net>. 
> 
> Could the nominees (current and future) please write a few words about
> themselves and what they expect they will be doing as WG co-chairs?

Sure, why not? :) Apologies for the long e-mail - it's Saturday and I'm
feeling chatty.


I've been involved with the RIR community since 1998 or so when I
started working at ARIN. I also joined the IETF at that time. After a
couple years I got a job at the RIPE NCC, where I participated in the
RIPE community as a staff member. Since I left the RIPE NCC a few years
ago, I have been able to participate in RIPE activities with a lot more
freedom, since my employers in this time have had little reason to be
concerned that my crazy ideas would be confused with their own.

I confess that I was an IPv6 skeptic for a long time, because of
technical concerns with the protocol. Lets be honest - it's
over-engineered in a lot of ways, difficult administratively, lacks a
decent co-existence/transition design, and fails to address some of the
major problems facing the Internet. But over the past decade I have come
to realize that there is no alternative path forward for the Internet.
We *need* to move as much of the Internet to IPv6 as possible, as
quickly as possible, or the future Internet will be worse in many ways
than the current Internet.

So now I'm an IPv6 advocate. USE IT! NOW!!!

---

As for my actual IPv6 qualifications - I confess I don't have many. I
know the core protocols, but I was trained as a software engineer and
work now as the programme manager for BIND 10, not as a network engineer
or for a network hardware vendor.

I think the role of a working group chair is more about communications
and organization than about technology. And I think what is really
needed right now is motivation. RIPE is a unique community that is being
wasted right now, at least as far as IPv6 adoption.

---

How do I plan on fixing this?

I'd like the working group to have some actual output. For example,
there are a ton of IPv6 projects and efforts, both within the RIPE
region and without. Ideally a list of all of these could be collected
and maintained. Likewise, recommendations about technologies or products
can be collected and maintained. I think there are a lot of people
trying to push IPv6, but the work seems disconnected, and I hope that
RIPE can act to connect these efforts.

I'd also like to have more frequent information reach the mailing list
about IPv6 developments. There is more discussion about IPv6
developments on on Slashdot than the RIPE IPv6 working group! We don't
need daily IPv6 updates - this is a working group, not a news source -
but even under the old charter the group was supposed to be getting
information about IPv6 developments.

I want to see some of the people acting in ways that may affect future
IPv6 development invited to discuss their ideas with the community. For
example, just this week BT announced an IPv6 patent on an IP address
management technique (which I discovered from the IPv6 Act Now feed). Is
this a good thing, a bad thing? Is it going to change investment or
rollout plans? What does their competition think? The best thing is
probably just to bring them to the mailing list and ask them. :)

There are a ton of other possibilities too. I'm quite happy to listen to
people's suggestions and help them bring them to the community and make
them happen. It's not about me doing stuff - it's about helping the
working group doing what it really wants to be doing anyway.

---

None of this requires me as chair. I won't be upset or go away if the
working group decides they'd rather have David and Marco work on this
stuff together, or the group would rather have someone completely
different. But I would be quite honored if given the chance to serve as
co-chair.

Thanks,

--
Shane