IANA chief Jon Postel dies
Jon Postel, who headed the controversial Internet domain name agency IANA, has died of heart problems at the age of 55.
Postel, who played a critical role in both the Internet's past and its future, died Friday evening during heart surgery, according to friends and colleagues.
One of the founders of the Net, Postel was perhaps best known for his crucial--and sometimes controversial--role in
Jon Postel - photo by Peter Lothberg |
His death comes at a critical juncture, as the federal government is planning how to turn over the domain naming system to the private sector.
But while Postel wielded considerable power in spearheading that effort, he remained an intensely private man who was much more the wizard behind the curtains than the politician in front of the people.
"Basically for years he's been the quiet person whose made things happen, who got consensus," said Dave Farber, professor of telecommunications at the University of Pennsylvania, who served as Postel's thesis adviser. "If Jon said, 'We're all going left,' in fact at least the technological part of the Internet went left--not because he had any particular power over them, but he was usually right."
As head of IANA, Postel led a proposal recently submitted to the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration on the transition of the domain naming system.
But they also were concerned about how his death would affect the process.
Postel is survived by four brothers and sisters, his mother, and his partner, Farber said.