Subject: WG ACTION: Reliable Multicast Transport (rmt)

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1999 16:20:42 -0400

A new working group has been formed in the Transport Area of the
IETF. Please contact the chair or Area Directors for additional
information.

Reliable Multicast Transport (rmt)
----------------------------------
 
 Current Status: Active Working Group
 
 Chair(s):
     Allison Mankin <[email-masked]>
     Roger Kermode <[email-masked]>
     Lorenzo Vicisano <[email-masked]>
 
 Transport Area Director(s): 
     Scott Bradner  <[email-masked]>
     Vern Paxson  <[email-masked]>
 
 Transport Area Advisor: 
     Vern Paxson  <[email-masked]>
 
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Description of Working Group:
 
The purpose of this WG is to standardize reliable multicast transport.

Initial efforts will focus solely on the standardization of the
one-to-many transport of large amounts of data. Due to the large
number of applications that fall into this category, and the
sometimes orthogonal requirements these applications exhibit, it is
believed that a "one size fits all" protocol will be unable to meet
the requirements of all applications. In recognition of this
observation, this working group expects to standardize more than one
protocol.

The first work item for this working group will be to write a
rationale document that outlines the space in which the one-to-many
transport protocols will be developed. This document will explain
the requirements that lead to the development of different mechanisms
(even though these mechanisms may have broader applicability than
just addressing those requirements).

The second work item for this working group will be a functional
decomposition document that defines a set of easily-separable
coarse-grained functional blocks, and possibly some coarse-grained
protocol "cores". Both the functional blocks and cores will be
derived from the experience that has already gained with a number
of advanced existing proposed solutions.

Once these two drafts are completed, this working group will examine
the success of these efforts and develop a strategy for developing
particular protocols. Once a strategy is agreed upon, the working
group will recharter to continue the standardization of specific
functional blocks and protocol cores.

This working group will work closely with the Internet Research Task
Force (IRTF) groups on Reliable Multicast (RMRG) and Secure Multicast
(SMUG), especially for meeting the congestion control and security
requirements mandated by RFC 2357.  This working group may standardize
reliable multicast for additional scenarios beyond the one-to-many
transport of bulk data once they are sufficiently well understood.

 Goals and Milestones: 
 
   May 99       Working Group chartered                                        

   Jun 99       Submit Internet-Drafts on rationale and functional block       

   Jul 99       Meet at IETF in Oslo                                           

   Aug 99       Revise drafts for submission as Informational RFCs             

   Aug 99       Recharter Working Group in light of analysis of  functional 
                decomposition.