A new Request for Comments is now available in online RFC libraries. RFC 7962 Title: Alternative Network Deployments: Taxonomy, Characterization, Technologies, and Architectures Author: J. Saldana, Ed., A. Arcia-Moret, B. Braem, E. Pietrosemoli, A. Sathiaseelan, M. Zennaro Status: Informational Stream: IRTF Date: August 2016 Mailbox: jsaldana@unizar.es, andres.arcia@cl.cam.ac.uk, bart.braem@iminds.be, ermanno@ictp.it, arjuna.sathiaseelan@cl.cam.ac.uk, mzennaro@ictp.it Pages: 43 Characters: 97574 Updates/Obsoletes/SeeAlso: None I-D Tag: draft-irtf-gaia-alternative-network-deployments-08.txt URL: https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7962 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17487/RFC7962 This document presents a taxonomy of a set of "Alternative Network Deployments" that emerged in the last decade with the aim of bringing Internet connectivity to people or providing a local communication infrastructure to serve various complementary needs and objectives. They employ architectures and topologies different from those of mainstream networks and rely on alternative governance and business models. The document also surveys the technologies deployed in these networks, and their differing architectural characteristics, including a set of definitions and shared properties. The classification considers models such as Community Networks, Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs), networks owned by individuals but leased out to network operators who use them as a low-cost medium to reach the underserved population, networks that provide connectivity by sharing wireless resources of the users, and rural utility cooperatives. This document is a product of the Global Access to the Internet for All Research Group of the IRTF. INFORMATIONAL: This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. This announcement is sent to the IETF-Announce, rfc-dist and IRTF-Announce lists.To subscribe or unsubscribe, see https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf-announce https://mailman.rfc-editor.org/mailman/listinfo/rfc-dist https://www.irtf.org/mailman/listinfo/irtf-announce For searching the RFC series, see https://www.rfc-editor.org/search For downloading RFCs, see https://www.rfc-editor.org/retrieve/bulk Requests for special distribution should be addressed to either the author of the RFC in question, or to rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org. Unless specifically noted otherwise on the RFC itself, all RFCs are for unlimited distribution. The RFC Editor Team Association Management Solutions, LLC