IETF Turns 25 on 16 January 2011

[IETF Chair <[e-mail]>]

THE IETF CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY

Many thanks to all of the volunteer IETF participants who over the
last 25 years have set the standards for a global Internet that now
connects more than 2 billion people.

Since the first meeting was held on the afternoon of January 16, 1986
in San Diego, California (see http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/01.pdf)
the IETF has published more than 4500 RFCs that describe the
fundamental technologies and widely used services on today's global
Internet.

IETF standards enabled every aspect of the phenomenal growth of the
Internet.  The IETF pioneered a unique, open standards process that is
based on "rough consensus and running code," not voting.  The process
is transparent, with every Internet-Draft and RFC available to
everyone without charge.  The process is accessible to everyone with
an email account.  While much of our work takes place on mail lists,
more that 80,000 participants have gathered at face-to-face meetings
over the last 25 years.

The 25th anniversary will be celebrated at IETF 80 in Prague (see
http://www.ietf.org/meeting/80/index.html) and we are assembling a
web page to remember some of the accomplishments, experiences, and
memories of the last 25 years (see http://www.ietf.org/25years)  The
web page will evolve greatly over the next few weeks, and your
contributions are encouraged.  Please send your contributions to
[e-mail].

Once again, thank for all you have done for the Internet.  I look
forward to working with you in the future to make the Internet even
better.

Happy anniversary,
  Russ Housley
  IETF Chair