Internet Society of Australia
A Chapter of the Internet Society
ABN 36 076 406 801

Executive Director's Report 2007

The past decaqde has seen the growth of ISOC-AU from its beginning as simply
members on a mailing list to the known and respected ISOC Chapter it is today.
The decade has also seen the growth of the Internet from the fledgling
communications system of network engineers, systems administrators and computer
scientists to the essential, global communications service of today.

The next decade for ISOC-AU promises to be an equally challenging one. There
are the obvious challenges such as dealing with the depletion of IPv4
addresses.  And as the Internet becomes a ubiquitous form of communications,
the issues of the hamrful or illegal use of the Internet must also be
addressed.  For ISOC-AU, and indeed the wider Internet community, the challenge
will be to ensure that the Internet remains open, user focussed, and accessible
to everyone.
 
MEETINGS AND EVENTS
The IPv6 Summit in November was a major success, with important international
and Australian speakers, and over 120 people in attendance.  Apart from
ISOC-AU, the hosting organisations were AEEMA and auDA.  The Summit was
endorsed by the IPv6 Forum, the IPv6 Forum Downunder, ISOC, ACS and NICTIA, and
received significant support from gold sponsors Cisco and Smart Internet
Technology CRC, Silver Sponsors ACT Government Business & Industry Development
and Blue Coat, and Bronze sponsors Hexago, IPv6Now and Nominum.

An Asia Pacific IPv6 Task Force meeting was held in Canberra in November to
coincide with the Summit meeting.  At the conclusion of the Task Force meeting,
ISOC-AU and the Taiwan Network Information Centre (TWNIC) signed a Memorandum
of Understanding for cooperative activities on the evolution to IPv6.

DIRECTORS' ACTIVITIES
The Directors held a face to face Strategy Meeting in Sydney in May in which
they developed a Strategic Plan with agreed goals for one, two and five years.
The goals address relationships both internationally (with ISOC and ISOC
Chapters particularly) and nationally, input into relevant national and
international policy debates, increasing awareness of ISOC-AU and strengthening
our funding base.  Progress on achieving the goals is reviewed at each Board
meeting.

Directors have attended numerous meetings during the year including the
Consumers' Telecommunications Network, the Telstra Consumer Consultative
Council, the Communications Alliance Consumer Council, auDA Names Policy Panel,
au Domain Administration Board, au Community Domains, IEEE, Australian Services
Roundtable, the National ICT Industry Alliance, the Privacy and Trust
Partnership Trust,  APRICOT, Taiwan IPv6 Summit, IPv6 Forum in India, Pacific
IPv6 Summit, APRALO, ALAC and PacINET.

DCITA FUNDED ACTIVITIES
ISOC-AU, in conjunction with auDA, AEEMA, ADIESA and BuildersNet, received
significant funding from DCITA, under the Internet Technology On-Line project
(ITOL), for the IPv6 for e-Business Project.  The project mapped the state of
readiness for IPv6 in Australia, developed enabling tools including business
case scenarios, a Return on Investment Evaluator and Transition checklists, and
develped a prototype of an IPv6 easy access device.  The project also raisied
awareness of IPv6, particularly through workshops held in six capital cities
and Ballarat.

ISOC-AU also received DCITA funding under the Telecommunications  Consumer
Consultations Meetings (TCCM) grants.  Two of the TCCM meetings were held on
IPv6 including one with delegates to the IPv6 Summit in 2006, and one to brief
members of the Communications Alliance Consumer Council in August 2007.  The
theme of the third TCCM meeting was on accessibillity and usability as we move
to  next generation (IP based) networks.

SUBMISSIONS
ISCO-AU made two submissions to auDA for its Review of Domain Names policy, two
submissions on the Terms of Reference for the Expert Taskforce on Broadband, a
submission to the DCITA Review of the Universal Service Obligation and a
submission to ACMA on the Restricted Access Devices Declaration.  ISOC-AU also
participated in the ISOC discussion on the OECD 'Future of the Internet
Economy' meeting to be held in June 2008, and on the ALAC Generic Names
Supporting Organisations' Recommendations for the Introduction of new generic
top level domains.

SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS
Our Platinum sponsor Cisco has very generously continued its support for the
next year.  Google has also very generously joined ISOC-AU as a Silver sponsor.
Our Enterprise and Foundation members are also valued supporters of ISOC-AU.
We also very much appreciate the important in-kind support from Maddocks,
Optus, and Connect Internet Solutions.

ADMINISTRATION
The Directors would like to formally record their gratitude for the work of the
Honorary President Tony Hill, the Honorary Secretary Kevin Karp and the
Honorary Treasurer Cheryl Langdon-Orr.