NTAC Description

Network Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC)
The primary goals of NTAC are to provide the best technical advice to Internet2 staff and Internet2 Advisory Councils by bringing as much expertise from the community as possible, to maximize the opportunity for community participation, and to provide the greatest possible transparency into its processes and decisions.
Members:
In order to maximize community participation, the NTAC is open to persons associated with an Internet2 University Member or Research and Education Network Member.   Participants in the NTAC should be committed to regular and active participation in helping the NTAC achieve its goals as stated above.  Participants should recognize this as a significant commitment, including at least monthly conference calls, regular face-to-face side meetings at larger community events, and potentially occasional travel to dedicated meetings.
Chair and Vice Chair:
The election of the Vice Chair of the NTAC shall be held annually at the Internet2 Fall Member Meeting and the Vice Chair will assume the office on January 1 of the following year.  After serving as Vice Chair for one year, the Vice Chair automatically becomes Chair on January 1 of the following year.  Any one person may serve a maximum of two terms each as Vice Chair and Chair.  After serving one term as Vice Chair followed by one term as Chair, the person is ineligible to serve as Vice Chair or Chair for one full year.
Should the Chair become permanently unable to fulfill the duties of the office, the NTAC will determine next steps at that time.
 A detailed description of the duties of the NTAC Chair and NTAC Vice Chair may be found in "NTAC Chair and Vice Chair Job Descriptions" document found on the NTAC wiki (https://wiki.internet2.edu/confluence/display/ntac/NTAC+Documents).
Advisory Role:
The NTAC shall serve to provide technical recommendations to Internet2 staff and/or Internet2 Advisory Councils on both tactical (short term) and strategic (long term) decisions related to the Internet2 Network and associated services.  As the NTAC is an open-membership without designated representation from members, the decision-making process shall be accomplished through open discussion of the issues.  The NTAC will strive to reach consensus in recommendations to Internet2 staff and/or Internet2 Advisory Councils through these open discussions.  The NTAC membership should be aware that even the inability to reach consensus will be communicating a message to Internet2 staff and/or Internet2 Advisory Councils of division within the community regarding the subject at hand.
The NTAC understands that certain sensitive topics may require the formation of a smaller sub-committee in order to work confidentially with Internet2 staff.  While such work may require confidentiality, the selection of the participants should remain as open as possible, to engender community trust.
Relationship to Internet2:
An active and engaged NTAC will provide the greatest value to Internet2.  While the NTAC fully understands that it is an advisory committee with no decision-making authority, the NTAC requests that Internet2 staff fully involve the NTAC in their decision-making process regarding technology decisions as appropriate.  To keep the NTAC members engaged, the NTAC requests that Internet2 staff develop a formal process for communicating requests for recommendations to the NTAC as well as responding to requests for information from the NTAC.
Modified: January 15, 2009 (Cort Buffington, Michael Lambert, John Moore, Paul Schopis)
Approved: March 3, 2009