Internet Architecture Board

The Internet Architecture Board (IAB)  serves as a committee of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and as an advisory body of the Internet Society. IAB provides architectural oversight of IETF activities, oversight and appeal for the Internet Standards Process, as well as management for the the IETF protocol parameter registries.

The IAB provides oversigh of aspects of the architecture for the protocols and procedures used by the Internet, as well as of the process used to create Internet standards. It also acts as an appeal body for complaints related to standards-related decisions made within the Internet Engineering Steering Group. In addition, the IAB ensures the editorial management and publication of the Request for Comments (RFC) document series, and is responsible for administration of the assignment of IETF protocol parameter values by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

The Board works through monthly teleconferences, and it meets three times a year at the IETF meetings. Discussions held withing the IAB often results in conclusions that are later on submitted to the IESG and IETF working groups, to be considered in their standards development works. Some examples of issues discussed at IAB meetings include: the future of Internet addressing, network management, and service identifiers and filtering.

IAB documents are usually intended to describe general technical principles which are believed to be necessary to the proper functioning of the Internet and its protocols.