I* Organizations

I* Organizations are standards based Internet governance organizations, concerned with the management and development of standards around the names, numbers and protocols of the Internet. Here are the most prominent bodies to date, according to APNIC:

• ICANN, or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a global multi-stakeholder organization that was created an 1998 and empowered through actions by the U.S. government and its Department of Commerce. ICANN is the main Internet governance institution. Its primary responsibility is to manage the Internet's core infrastructure, which consists of IP addresses, domain names, and root servers. It coordinates the Internet's DNS, IP addresses and autonomous system numbers, which involves a continued management of these evolving systems and the protocols that underly them.

• IANA The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a department of ICANN that is responsible for maintaining the registries of the Internet's unique identifiers, which include domain names, Protocol Parameters, and Internet numbers (IP Addresses and Autonomous System Numbers). IANA distributes blocks of IP addresses to the five (5) Regional Internet Registries (RIRs).

• ISOC The Internet Society (ISOC) is an international, non-profit organization that promotes Internet use and access. ISOC was founded in 1992 and leads discussions related to Internet standards, policy and education. The main ISOC offices are located in Geneva, Switzerland and near Washington, USA. ISOC's mission is to ensure and sustain an open development, use and evolution of the Internet for the benefit of all members and users throughout the world. The Internet Society organizes conferences and events all around the world, including the INET ISOC Conferences. Users, technologists, and operators are brought together at these conferences to focus on the development of local and global Internet issues. ISOC is considered the parent corporation of Internet Engineering Task Force.

• IETF The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is an open, international community made-up of operators, designers and researchers; their main concern is the development of the Internet's architecture as well as the development of Internet standards. It is a part of ISOC.

• IAB The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is a chartered committee for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the advisory body for the Internet Society (ISOC).

• ASO The Address Supporting Organization (ASO) is one of ICANN's Supporting Organizations. It is a formal advisory body to the ICANN Board, reviewing and developing policy recommendations concerning IP Address policy.

• W3C The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community where web standards are developed by a hired staff that works together with member organizations and the public.