[Iccrg] Proposal for ICCRG operations

[S. Keshav]

A Proposal for ICCRG Operations
---------------------------------------------

The ICCRG Charter Document states (lightly paraphrased): "The key goal of
ICCRG is to move towards consensus on which technologies are viable
long-term solutions for the Internet congestion control architecture and
what constitutes an appropriate cost/benefit tradeoff. ... Unfortunately, it
is unclear at this stage whether any single solution is viable, or whether
there needs to be a synthesis of ideas from many places."

To achieve the requisite clarity I propose the following phases.

Phase 1: Challenge document
Target date: Preferably by end of Feb, but no later than March 20th (IETF
Dallas date)

This document will outline the challenges faced by current TCP congestion
control, and the requirements of any long-term solution for Internet
congestion control.

Exit criterion: Consensus in this list that the document covers the bases.

Phase 2: Solution proposals
Target date: By Fall IETF

We will broadcast a call to all contenders to submit a congestion control
proposal. To make this reasonably efficient, the format of the submission
will need to be agreed to and specified by this community.

Exit criterion: A document that surveys all contenders and presents them in
standard format

Phase 3: Discussion
Target date: Spring IETF 2007
  
The goal is to identify common themes and best practices in the proposed
solutions as well as holes in coverage. Perhaps, we can use these to run a
competition or bakeoff for the top spot, (which may require teams to
collaborate or synthesize ideas).

Exit criterion:  A document that identifies the form of the best solution.

Phase 4: Consensus formation
Target date: Fall IETF 2007

We will use this phase to clean up the preliminary solution and handle any
issues than may come up in the previous phase.

Exit criterion: Creation of a document that recommends a 'best known
solution'

I hope that this approach will result in a solution that is not only widely
accepted by the community but has also been critically evaluated.


Comments on this proposal are very welcome.

thanks

keshav