Nick,
You raise 2 specific issues which are getting more attention now, both
inside and outside the RIR communities. First is the issue of IPv4
exhaustion, which leads to the second, of the emergence of IP address
trading in some form or other. They are separate matters, but possibly
linked.
The NRO executive council (namely the CEOs of the RIRs) has recently
discussed the need for an NRO position or paper of some kind about the
first issue. And such a paper will have to address the possibility and
implications of trading, though not in definitive detail at this time (for
the reasons you mention). The NRO has produced such issue papers
previously, and used these as the basis advice we have given to forums such
as the ICANN Government Advisory Committee, and WSIS, WGIG and IGF meetings.
I'm sure we will produce something in the course of the next month or so.
The meeting in Bali and discussions about the "countdown" proposal will
inform that activity, certainly in terms of the APNIC contribution at
least, and there will be ongoing discussions I am sure, as other RIR
meetings also address these topics, in some form or other, during the
coming year.
There is no need for any policy proposal in order for the APNIC secretariat
to take on this type of activity; however I will take whatever guidance
and/or direction that I can, from the coming member meeting and from
discussions such as this.
Offers of help will be gratefully received, but I think the appropriate
mode for member input would be through something like a working group, if
one were to emerge from the coming meeting.
Thanks,
Paul.
--On Tuesday, 20 February 2007 2:36 PM +1100 Nick Hannaford
nick.hannaford@telstra.net wrote:
It strikes me that no matter what IPv4 "countdown policy" APNIC and the
other RIRs adopt (if any), a more significant issue becomes evident once
APNIC's IPv4 address pool is exhausted.
It's likely that IPv6 will not be universally adopted by then, and that
many ISP's will still have product portfolios and large customer bases
positioned on an IPv4 platform. Presumably these ISPs will still require
access to IPv4 addresses, and in the absence of the RIR channel they will
be forced to purchase IPv4 "assets" from other players. My view is that
these assets will hold a value for a period of time until IPv6 becomes
the main stream, however long that takes.
We can either sit back and let this trading just take place (unwise IMO
given the risks of grey or black markets emerging) or we can ensure that
APNIC (and other RIRs) have a role to play in ensuring orderly transfer
and that a respected and obvious framework of clear "title" is in place.
I do not believe that now is the time to be constructing specific policies
relating to address trading simply because right now we don't know all of
the aspects of this activity. But even without specific policy proposals
right now there appears to me to be a real need to examine the available
options for APNIC's role in such a trading environment and the pros and
cons in each case. I suggest that APNIC, and the APNIC membership, need
to start working out now what role APNIC should undertake in this post
IPv4 run out world.
I understand the certification work for secure routing is underway, it
appears to be a good first step in a mechanism of address "ownership" in
the routing realm. The next requirement is that the RIRs need to track
who owns these address to stop the creation of "black registries". I am
not proposing APNIC provide a trading platform, just the ability to
certify the transfer of IPv4 address between parties. Obviously this
could be extended universally across the RIRs to ensure a global scheme
could work across the various regions.
Son / Paul: to get the APNIC Secretariat to study this topic and report to
the membership do we need to adopt a specific policy? It seems early days
for policies but the right time to commence the studies into this topic.
So how can APNIC members such as myself assist the Secretariat to conduct
such a study at this point in time?
Regards
Nick Hannaford
________________________________________________________________________
Paul Wilson email: pwilson@apnic.net
Director General, APNIC sip: apnic@voip.apnic.net
http://www.apnic.net phone: +61 7 3858 3100
