WASHINGTON, D.C., August 5, 2002 - The Internet Society (ISOC) confirmed today that Cisco Fellow Fred Baker is the new chairman of the Society's Board of Trustees. The organization, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, functions as the international focal point for global cooperation and coordination in the development of the Internet, and provides global leadership in the area of Internet standards, education, and policy development issues.

"I believe the Internet can make life better for people throughout the world, and my goal is to help ISOC achieve its mission of making the Internet available globally," said Baker. "ISOC has made excellent contributions to the Internet, especially through their Developing Countries Workshops, by bringing top-quality experts to developing countries to train new operators. One of my key goals as chairman is to increase activity in the areas of public policy and education/training."

"Fred has made many significant contributions to the Internet through his years of involvement with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as well as various other activities related to the development and propagation of the Internet. ISOC is very fortunate to have his leadership and vision as we move into our second decade," said Lynn St.Amour, ISOC CEO/President.

One of Baker's biggest contributions to the Internet has been his work with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF is the international community of network designers, operators, vendors and researchers concerned with the protocols and operational characteristics of the Internet. The IETF operates under the auspices of ISOC. Baker served as chairman of the IETF from 1996 to 2001. In that capacity, he contributed significantly to several standards and to the standards process. He also oversaw the IETF during a period in which meeting attendance doubled, work in progress more than quadrupled, and the Internet itself experienced explosive growth. Under his leadership, the IETF actively encouraged non-North American involvement and met in Germany, Norway, and Australia. The IETF also reached out to more traditional standards bodies and fora to foster global acceptance of Internet technology.

Baker has worked in the telecommunications industry since 1978, building statistical multiplexors, terminal servers, bridges, and routers. At Cisco Systems, his primary interest areas include the improvement of Quality of Service for best effort and real time traffic, the development of routing and addressing, and issues in law enforcement and emergency use of the Internet. He also serves on the IETF's Internet Architecture Board and chairs the Internet Emergency Preparedness Working Group.

About ISOC

The Internet Society is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1991 to provide leadership in the management of Internet related standards, educational, and policy development issues. It has offices in Washington, DC and Geneva, Switzerland. Through its current initiatives in support of education and training, Internet standards and protocol, and public policy, ISOC has played a critical role in ensuring that the Internet has developed in a stable and open manner. It is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet Architecture Board (IAB), the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) and other Internet-related bodies.

For over 10 years ISOC has run international network training programs for developing countries which have played a vital role in setting up the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country that has connected to the Internet during this time, while at the same time working to protect the Internet's stability. ISOC is taking the next step in this evolution with the recent announcement of its intent to bid for the .ORG registry based on the belief that a thriving non-commercial presence is a key element in developing a strong social and technical infrastructure in all nations. For additional information see http://www.ISOC.org.

For a photo of Fred Baker go to ftp://ftpeng.cisco.com/fred/bio/baker.jpg.