IANA

Originally managed a group of functions performed by the Information Sciences Institute under contract with the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency on the ARPANET.Those functions included the assignment of parameters for Internet protocols, management of the Internet Protocol (IP) address space, assignment of domain names, and management of root server functions. Internet protocol parameters managed by IANA include the assignment of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) ports, which are logical points of connection. In fact, IANA initially was the responsibility of Jon Postel, who performed those functions until his death in 1998. At that time, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), an independent not-for-profit organization, assumed the responsibility for managing IANA. See also ARPANET; ICANN; Internet; IP; logical; port; Postel, Jon; protocol; root server; and TCP.