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Re: One last word on operational reserves

2005-01-19 09:21:48


--On onsdag, januar 19, 2005 07:46:00 -0800 Fred Baker <fred(_at_)cisco(_dot_)com> wrote:

The second paragraph of Section 5.6 reads (in the -04 version of the
draft)
    The IASA expects ISOC to build and provide that operational reserve,
    through whatever mechanisms ISOC deems appropriate: line of credit,
    financial reserves, meeting cancellation insurance, and so forth.  In
    the long term, financial reserves are preferable; it should be a goal
    for ISOC to reach this level of reserves within 3 years after the
    creation of the IASA.

This paragraph could refer to an IETF (IASA)-specific operational reserve
or to the overall ISOC operational reserve.  The ISOC plans to build up
an operational reserve to protect all of the ISOC's activities, including
the IETF-related ones.  The board thinks that this is the appropriate way
to proceed.  Rob Austein suggested that maybe this paragraph should be
removed (see
http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg33748.html). Either
removing the paragraph or revising it to make it clear that it is
referring to the overall ISOC operational reserve would remove the
potential for misunderstanding.

Fred,

thanks for the encouraging words!

I *think* this is a "not a problem" thing.... I believe the intent is that IETF can say "we think we need 6 months reserve for our stuff", and ISOC can say "that's no problem - we have general reserves that are larger than your 6 months + the reasonable risk on other stuff".

I think IASA should have the right to know if ISOC's reserves are smaller than the ones mentioned here, or if ISOC is at significant risk of having to eat through its reserves on other things - but I see this wording as saying "we need to be reasonably sure that the money is there if we really need it", not "you need to do something special just for us".

I wouldn't have that much issue with removing everything after "The IASA expects ISOC to build and provide that operational reserve" - I think that needs to remain, because an alternative reading of the previous paragraph without that context would be "IASA expects to build up that reserve out of its own budget", which is a course of action I believe we have considered and rejected.

But let's see what other people say....

                    Harald




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