The IETF said the ITU's decision to pursue its own standard will lead to separate, incompatible technologies being deployed by different vendors and operators. "This situation ensures that the two product groups will not work together," the IETF said in a statement along with the Internet Society. "While this impact may not be immediate, ongoing evolution along this path will jeopardize the globally connected Internet, which is an interoperable network of networks."

Industry analysts questioned the IETF's claim of danger to the Internet. Service providers need to connect to each other in order to provide services, and if they ask equipment vendors to support both standards, they will, said analyst Michael Howard of Infonetics Research. The carrier equipment industry has successfully dealt with other dual standards in the past, he said. In those cases, there were dual implementations until one of the standards eventually won out in the market, he said.

The IETF's Housley acknowledged that vendors could implement both standards. However, this would add cost and complexity to their products, which ultimately will affect the rates that subscribers pay, he said.