The upcoming 56th IETF meeting in downtown San Francisco (March 16-21) is the IETF's first meeting in the Bay Area in more than six years. Pre-registration for the meeting (before noon on March 7) is US$425; on-site registration is US$575.This meeting has many VPN-related Working Group meetings, including those for the IPsec, IPsec keying, MPLS, pseudo-wire VPNs (PWE3), and provider-provisioned VPNs (PPVPN).

In other important IETF news, two Area Directors for the VPN areas have changed.

Russ Housley replaces long-time Security Area Director Jeff Schiller. Russ has been active in the IPsec area as author of the AES counter mode and CCM mode documents, as well as many other security protocols (such as the main specification for PKIX digital certificates).
Scott Bradner, one of the two Area Directors for the Sub-IP Area that covers the trusted VPN technologies, has also left the IESG. The IESG will determine who will replace Scott as the second Area Director for the Sub-IP Area. The IESG must also work on the future of the Sub-IP area, given the quite spirited discussion on the IETF mailing list in December and January.

Upcoming VPN-related Events

China VPN/MPLS Conference
Shanghai / April 9-10, 2003
This China-centric show focuses on VPN technologies and use. It includes exhibitors from inside and outside China.

RSA Conference 2003
San Francisco / April 13 -17, 2003
This is the largest and best-respected security-specific expo in the world. The educational sessions include tracks on standards, applied cryptography, and implementation issues.

MPLScon 2003
New York / May 19-22, 2003
The trusted VPN industry mostly revolves around MPLS, and MPLScon is by far the most important event for the MPLS market. The conference has a strong educational component, as well as a large exhibit space.

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