iSCSI: SRP status

[Black_David@emc.com]

I received an off-list inquiry on this, and thought I'd
answer it on list due to general interest.  First, the
usual disclaimer:

	I am NOT a lawyer
	This is NOT legal advice
	If you need legal advice ...
		- You need to talk to a lawyer
	If actions or decisions based on information in this
		message have legal consequences
		- Those consequences are YOUR responsibility
		- The IETF and yours truly disclaim all responsibility

SRP is currently mandatory to implement, with further discussion of
whether it is to remain mandatory anticipated in Minneapolis.  AFAIK,
the only functionally equivalent alternatives also have IPR issues.
Those alternatives are EKE and SPEKE, which would require licensing
the Lucent or Phoenix patents respectively.  For SRP, Stanford
requires a no-cost license and I've been told that Stanford believes
that no other patent license is necessary.  Whether you believe
Stanford is between you and your lawyers.  I've been working on
getting Lucent and Phoenix to say whether they think SRP requires
licensing their patents.  Lucent previously promised to make such
a statement about their EKE patents and has now broken that promise.

Thanks,
--David

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David L. Black, Senior Technologist
EMC Corporation, 42 South St., Hopkinton, MA  01748
+1 (508) 249-6449 *NEW*      FAX: +1 (508) 497-8500
black_david@emc.com         Cell: +1 (978) 394-7754
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