Process

Protocols which are to become standards in the Internet go through a series of states or maturity levels (proposed standard, draft standard, and standard) involving increasing amounts of scrutiny and testing.

Advancement of a protocol to proposed standard is an important step since it marks a protocol as a candidate for eventual standardization (it puts the protocol "on the standards track"). Advancement to draft standard is a major step which warns the community that, unless major objections are raised or flaws are discovered, the protocol is likely to be advanced to standard in six months.

Protocol State  

In addition to being designated as "standard", protocols can be assigned other "states". These states are informational, experimental, and historic.

An informational protocol is one developed by standard organizations other than the IAB, or by vendors or others outside the purview of the IAB. Such protocols may in some cases also be recommended for use in the Internet by the IAB.

Experimental protocols are typically those developed as part of an ongoing research project not related to an operational service offering. While they may be proposed as a service protocol at a later stage, and thus be put on the standards track, they are in general not intended for operational use.

Finally, historic protocols are those that are unlikely to ever become standards in the Internet either because they have been superseded by later developments or due to lack of interest.

Protocol Status  

In addition to a state (like "Proposed Standard"), a protocol is also assigned a status, or requirement level. These can be "Required", "Recommended", "Elective", "Limited Use", and "Not Recommended".

At any given time a protocol occupies a cell of Table ProtocolCategorization. Protocols are likely to be in cells in about the following proportions (indicated by the relative number of Xs). A new protocol is most likely to start in the (proposed standard, elective) cell, or the (experimental, not recommended) cell.