*MACE Conference Call*
March 11, 2002

*Attendees*

Bob Morgan (chair) - Washington
Neal McBurnett - Internet2
Jim Jokl - Virginia
Renee Frost - Michigan/Internet2
Scott Cantor - OSU
Ellen Vaughan - Internet2
Tom Garritano - Chicago/Argonne
Ken Klingenstein - Colorado/Internet2
Steven Carmody - Brown
Von Welch - Chicago/Argonne/NCSA
Brian Gilmore - Edinburgh
Ton Verschuren - SURFnet
Ben Chinowsky (scribe) - Internet2

*Discussion*

The discussion opened with the group agreeing to ask Jeff Hodges -- who currently works for Sun -- to join MACE. This will be the first invitation MACE has extended to someone affiliated with a corporation; there was general agreement that MACE needs to clarify criteria for corporate representation. [AI] Bob will draft a short list of criteria for corporate representation on MACE.

MACE discussed the need for global standards for the middleware layer. Ken observed that it's not clear whether GGF, NMI, Internet2, or some combination of these organizations will be publishing standards, what force their standards would have, or how they would relate to existing standards bodies like IETF; he underscored the importance of arriving at "a coherent set of standards processes." Internet2 and NMI are working on formalizing their standards processes. Ken pointed out, and Brian confirmed, a significant difference between the situation of Internet2 and that of its corresponding organizations in Europe: where Internet2 is concerned with both campus infrastructure and research networks, the European organizations are more narrowly focused on research networks. Propagating standards in the campus-middleware area is therefore likely to devolve on MACE.

The group discussed current and upcoming meetings:
- Ken and Ton were calling in from the TERENA meeting in Amsterdam; Ton reported that PKI-COORD is broadening its focus to encompass authentication and authorization more generally. Later this week TERENA plans to take up the relationship between European Grid efforts and MACE-style middleware.
- Bob is spending next week at the 53rd IETF in Minneapolis.
- Bob noted that the next Internet2 Member Meeting (Monday, May 6 - Wednesday, May 8) overlaps with the next CSG (Wednesday, May 8 - Friday, May 10); the overlap includes the CSG day-long workshop on security. Renee is looking into moving the VidMid planning session, currently planned to follow the Member Meeting on Thursday, to Monday. The Sunday night before the Member Meeting, and several lunchtime and evening slots, are still available for sessions; contact Renee to schedule.

Finally MACE reviewed progress in various working groups.
- Bob noted that WebISO is working on a Pubcookie release that will be "free of UWisms", making it easier for other schools to adopt. [AI] Bob will ask WebISO participants to describe what they're doing to get Pubcookie to work with Blackboard, WebCT, and similar applications, and what vendor support and licensing issues they've encountered.
- The HEPKI-TAG PKI Lite S/MIME pilot project recently held its first conference call; 16 sites have signed up to participate. Jim asked MACE for feedback on the PKI Lite CP/CPS, which he sent to MACE for comments on February 27. Bob observed that this is a good example of the need to formalize MACE's document approval process. [AI] MACE will discuss the PKI Lite CP/CPS at its next meeting.
- Shibboleth will soon be shipping alpha code to its initial pilot sites. [AI] All MACEochists who manage mailing lists will contact Steven about getting their mail servers Shibbolized.

*Action Items*

[AI] Bob will draft a short list of criteria for corporate representation on MACE.
[AI] Bob will ask WebISO participants to describe what they're doing to get Pubcookie to work with Blackboard, WebCT, and similar applications, and what vendor support and licensing issues they've encountered.
[AI] MACE will discuss the PKI Lite CP/CPS at its next meeting.
[AI] All MACEochists who manage mailing lists will contact Steven about getting their mail servers Shibbolized.