Precedent Two: How the IETF Made the Internet Work

The second major precedent for EnergyOS is the story of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and how its open, consensus-based model enabled the explosive growth of the internet. While the 3GPP model is characterised by a formal partnership structure and a top-down governance approach, the IETF model is more bottom-up and open, providing a complementary set of lessons.

6.1 The IETF's Founding Principles

The IETF was established in 1986 as an informal group of internet researchers and engineers. Its founding principles, which remain central to its operation today, are captured in the famous dictum of Dave Clark at the 1992 IETF meeting.

6.2 The RFC Process

The IETF's primary output is the Request for Comments (RFC) — a series of numbered documents that define the technical standards of the internet. The RFC process is open to anyone: any individual or organisation can submit a proposal for a new standard. Proposals are reviewed by the relevant IETF working group, refined through a process of open discussion and revision, and ultimately approved by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).

The RFC process has produced some of the most important standards in the history of technology, including TCP/IP (RFC 791, RFC 793), HTTP (RFC 2616), TLS (RFC 8446), and DNS (RFC 1035). These standards form the foundation of the modern internet, enabling billions of devices and services to communicate seamlessly across the globe.

6.3 The Layered Architecture of the Internet

One of the most important contributions of the IETF is the layered architecture of the internet, embodied in the TCP/IP protocol suite. This architecture separates the concerns of different layers — physical transmission, network routing, transport, and application — enabling innovation at each layer independently. A new application protocol (such as HTTP/3) can be developed and deployed without requiring changes to the underlying network infrastructure.

This layered architecture is directly analogous to the SGAM framework and the EnergyOS stack. Just as the internet's layered architecture enabled the web, email, streaming video, and countless other applications to be built on top of a common network infrastructure, the EnergyOS layered architecture would enable a diverse ecosystem of energy services and market participants to be built on top of a common digital energy infrastructure.

6.4 Open Standards as an Economic Enabler

The IETF's open standards model has had profound economic consequences. By ensuring that the fundamental protocols of the internet are open and freely available, the IETF created a level playing field for innovation. Any company, anywhere in the world, could build a product or service that worked with the internet, without needing to pay licensing fees or obtain permission from a proprietary platform owner.

The economic value created by this open standards model is incalculable. The internet economy — encompassing e-commerce, cloud computing, social media, streaming, and countless other sectors — has been estimated to contribute trillions of dollars to global GDP annually. None of this would have been possible without the open, interoperable foundation provided by the IETF's standards.

The lesson for EnergyOS is clear: open standards are not just a technical nicety; they are an economic imperative. By mandating open standards for the UK energy system, the government and regulators can create the conditions for a flourishing ecosystem of energy innovation, driving down costs and delivering better outcomes for consumers.