Recently, Alt-N was honored to host the first ever DKIM Interoperability Event at its Grapevine Texas office headquarters. This two-day event brought folks together from some 20 companies including major ISPs, messaging product vendors, and industry associations and experts. The goal was to test DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) and make sure that each of the attendee’s products and services interoperated.
We spent a lot of time torturing each others’ products trying to find bugs and weaknesses in the various implementations of DKIM and the specification which defines it: RFC 4871. And we did find a few bugs and ambiguities. What was exciting about this event was that it was well attended by engineers and developers who were able to fix their bugs right then and there in many cases. MDaemon had a few minor problems, which we were able to fix during the course of the Interop Event. A few ambiguities in the DKIM specification were also identified and we will get them cleared up.
Thinking about it days later, there are a few things that struck me as important about this event. First, I’m reminded that it was only a relatively short time ago that DKIM existed only on paper and in the minds of a small team of highly talented people devoted to doing something to combat the problems of Internet email fraud. I’m reminded that only a short time ago there were a total of three working implementations of DKIM: 1) in our own MDaemon email server, 2) in SendMail’s product, and 3) at Cisco.
Second, I was reminded about the importance of the IETF process. I believe that the increase in DKIM implementation and enthusiasm is due, in part, to the legitimacy and “completeness” implied by the rigors and review of an IETF process.
Third, I was struck by the importance of face-to-face interactions when it comes to community building. There really is no substitute for it. Although we did have some attendee’s participating remotely, it was the act of getting to meet, listen, and discuss this technology with peers in a face-to-face environment that I enjoyed most about this event. These folks really knew their stuff and I was honored to have hosted them. Believe me, when you come to Texas, you will get treated right!
Finally, I was struck by just how well this DKIM stuff actually does work. It really does deliver as advertised and we found no significant technological problems which would hinder adoption or deployment.
As I looked around the Alt-N conference room that was packed with people from all facets of the industry, I realized how much things have changed. Although we have more building to do towards wide-spread deployment of DKIM, we have made significant progress.
I will never forget this event and the feeling of community that was present. I am so glad to be able to play a role in building stronger email technology and to be associated with this level of talented and devoted people.
Arvel