Dublin, 7 November 2024—The Internet Society, a global charitable organization dedicated to building, promoting, and defending the Internet, today announced the recipients of this year’s Jonathan B. Postel Service Award. Steve Crocker and Xing Li have been selected for their many contributions to the technological development and growth of the Internet.
The Postel Award was established in 1999 to honor individuals or organizations who have made outstanding and sustained contributions in service to the Internet community. The award is named after Dr. Jonathan B. Postel to recognize and commemorate the extraordinary stewardship he exercised throughout his 30-year career in computer networking.
Dr. Crocker has been involved in the Internet since its inception. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, while he was a graduate student at UCLA, he was part of the team that developed the protocols for the ARPANET and laid the foundation for today’s Internet. He wrote the first Request For Comments (RFC), where questions and answers to key technical issues are presented to and by the Internet engineering and infrastructure community and is still widely used today. He is the former Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and is the CEO and co-founder of Shinkuro, Inc., a startup focused on the sharing of information across the Internet and the deployment of improved security protocols.
Dr. Xing Li is a pioneer in Internet development in China, beginning with his work in the 1990s to connect Chinese academic and research institutions and continuing with his contributions to IPv6 development and deployment in that country and worldwide. As an architect of the China Education and Research Network (CERNET), launched in 1994, China’s first Internet backbone, Li helped connect more than 2,000 Chinese universities. With over 20 million users from 2,000+ universities currently connected to CERNET, it continues to be a leading force in the field of Internet technology in China.
The Internet Society will present the award, including a US$10,000 honorarium for each recipient, during the 121st meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which will be held in Dublin, Ireland, from 2 to 8 November 2024.
About the Internet Society
Founded in 1992 by Internet pioneers, the Internet Society is a global charitable organization working to ensure that the Internet is for everyone. Through its community of members, special interest groups, and 130+ chapters around the world, the organization defends and promotes Internet policies and technologies that keep the Internet open, globally connected, and secure.
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