In message <3C96432D.F61364CA@hursley.ibm.com>, Brian E Carpenter writes: >> I can >> assure you that for large multi-nationals the difference between paying $500 >> for a delegate and $5000 is a drop in the proverbial ocean, especially when >> it comes to standards tracking. > >I can assure you that you are as wrong as it's possible to be about this. > Ditto. I was initially denied travel funding to attend Salt Lake City IETF, despite my initial arguments that I was an IAB member, the IAB liason to the IESG, an IRSG member, and the chair or co-chair of two working groups, one of significant importance to my employer since it involves the interaction of the Internet and the phone network. The issue isn't the the fraction of the total expense budget of the giant multinational that IETF attendance represents. Giant multinationals have a hierarchical structure; the issue in very many cases is the budget of the individual organization, where travel might be noticeable. That was certainly the case for me -- and a month after that IETF, management announced that they were laying off a very significant portion of the organization. I wonder how many people's jobs were saved by the organization-wide travel freeze. --Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb Full text of "Firewalls" book now at http://www.wilyhacker.com