The Internet Protocol Journal - Volume 5, Number 4

In December 1999 we published Part One of a two-part article on Internet Multicast. Some readers have asked "what happened to Part Two?" Finally, in this issue we are able to bring you the second article, "Internet Multicast Tomorrow." Multicast remains a technology with limited Internet-wide deployment, but numerous research activities are underway that may change this situation. Ian Brown, Jon Crowcroft, Mark Handley and Brad Cain provide an overview of current developments in multicast.

If all computer networking was a simple matter of "plug-and-play," I suppose this journal would not exist. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see developments that aim to simplify configuration of network devices, particularly those that move around a lot. The Zeroconf working group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has been developing standards for "configuration-free" networks. Edgar Danielyan explains the details in our second article.

We continue to receive numerous letters in response to our articles. Your feedback is very much appreciated, because it helps us develop material for future issues. Please keep your letters coming to ipj@cisco.com

The long-awaited online subscription system is now ready for deployment and you will be able to try it out in the very near future at www.cisco.com/ipj. With this system, you can update your mailing address as well as select delivery options, online notification of new issues and so on. As with any computer based system, I anticipate that we, with your help, will uncover a few bugs. Please report any problems you may encounter to ipj@cisco.com.

A new important resource is available from the Internet Society (ISOC). The Internet Report is a catalogue of IETF documents, including RFCs and Internet Drafts, that document the technology, protocols and operating procedures that form the Internet. The report includes RFCs, IETF Working Group drafts as well as individual drafts. The Internet Report is maintained by Geoff Huston. You can access the report online at http://ietfreport.isoc.org/.