CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_


Reported by Dana Sitzler/Merit

NISI Minutes

Agenda


   o Review of Activities
   o Discussion of Draft Document 2


Announcement:

Due to new job commitments, Dana is looking for a Co-Chair for this
Working Group.  If anyone is interested, contact her (dds@merit.edu) or
Joyce Reynolds (jkrey@venera.isi.edu).

Discussion:

The meeting began by re-evaluating what the group is trying to do.  The
group was originally developing a set of requirements/recommendations
for a network information services infrastructure.  The last meeting
took us in a different direction which produced a draft of guidelines
for Network Information Centers (NICs).  This meeting began with re-
assessing if this was the appropriate direction.  The group decided that
the first step in defining a network information services infrastructure
is to define what a NIC is and the function it performs.  This will
ensure some minimum level of service from NICs in the community.  The
next step is to establish some guidelines for sharing information
between NICs.

The group agreed to take the existing draft guidelines document and
expand it to more accurately define and describe a NIC. The information
about existing NICs (discussed at our first meeting) will also be
incorporated.

The group then defined the audience for the revised document.  The
stated audience will include existing NICs, people wanting to start
NICs, Network Operations Centers (NOCs), and funding agencies.  The
stated purpose of the document is to establish a base set of
requirements for establishing services and to assist those considering
implementing a new NIC. The ultimate goal is to make it easier for users
to get information from NICs.  The remaining time was spent defining the

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components of a NIC.



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The session ended with agreement to the following action plan:


   o A new draft will be distributed to the NISI mailing list within the
     next 2 weeks.
   o The document will be discussed and reviewed on the mailing list.
   o The draft will be revised based on comments received (Volunteer
     revisors:
     Marc Sheldon, Gary Malkin, Joan Thompson, Karen McKelvey).
   o The draft will be distributed to the USWG mailing list for
     comments.
   o A near final-form document will be ready prior to the next IETF
     meeting in March.


Attendees

Randy Butler             rbutler@ncsa.uiuc.edu
Fred Engel
Ole Jacobsen             ole@csli.stanford.edu
Darren Kinley            kinley@crim.ca
Gary Malkin              gmalkin@ftp.com
Karen McKelvey           karen@cerf.net
Mark Needleman           mhn@stubbs.ucop.edu
Joyce Reynolds           jkrey@isi.edu
Karen Roubicek           roubicek@nnsc.nsf.net
Michael Schwartz         schwartz@boulder.colorado.edu
Tim Seaver               tas@mcnc.org
Marc Sheldon             ms@uni-dortmund.de
Dana Sitzler             dds@merit.edu
Pat Smith                psmith@merit.edu
Joanie Thompson          joanie@nsipo.nasa.gov



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