Net pioneer Jon Postel dies

Jon Postel, one of the pioneers of the Internet and director of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (Iana), died on Friday in California, from complications following heart surgery. He was 55.

Postel helped to found many of the organisations which have been crucial to the development of the Net, but was best known for his work with Iana, the agency contracted by the US government to coordinate the Internet's address system, domain names and protocols.

Postel played a crucial role in the debate on handing over management of the Internet domain name system to a private, non-profit organisation. After an extensive consultation process among the Internet community, he recently submitted a consensus proposal for the new supervisory body to the US Department of Commerce.