ARIN is proposed to create a non-profit IP Registry to administer the allocation of IP numbers to the Americas, South Africa and the Caribbean.
There have been some interesting questions on the mailing list. Here are the answers.
ARIN will enable ISPs to have a more direct voice in the address allocation policies.
IPS Subscription for bulk registration
Individual assignments to end sites
Do any of these charges apply to existing space?No, the charges are for future allocations.
Peter Lothberg asks about getting space from a registry. Randy Bush (who is on the proposed ARIN BoT) says that the registries are regional, so you would have to go to IANA if you do not like the actions of the regional registry serving your area. The only real change in this proposal is to move the operation from governmental control to an organization that is operated by the membership.
Peter Lothberg asks why can't we go to the registry that has policies we like? Randy says that may be possible, but that has to come later. Right now, this is to get things set up and things could change.
Someone asked how much the cost for domain name registration would be reduced. Randy said that IP addresses will be charged, but that may or may not influence the cost for domain registration. It appears that the costs per allocation rewards those that are able to justify the allocation of large amounts of space. Randy says that there is no solution that really works for having the scale to be flat rate. John Curran (another BoT member) notes that the costs for this is really on maintenance of records, not the number of IP addresses allocated.
Marcus Bell of InterNex: "Will SWIP and RWHOIS will still be required?" Yes, ARIN provides registration services and is not selling addresses space. Is there some effort to synchronize the fee-base of the three registries? It is unlikely that will ever happen. Marcus says, "The technology allows you to cheat, so what will happen to keep me from tempted?" Randy says that it is having diverse business models is probably a good thing.
Someone asks "Are the fees being charged to cover the costs of the operation? Yes. Wouldn't a small ISP need more services from the allocation since they are doing registry for more small chunks of IP space? Why should larger ISPs pay more? John Curran argues that the registry must be maintained and the large ISPs have more resources to support the operation of ARIN than the smaller registries. What does membership buy you? You get to participate in the process.
John Stewart with MCI is confident in the initial membership of the board. Why does the board elect itself? The board selects itself from nominations from the Advisory Board, which is elected by the membership. John argues that the BoT should be elected by the membership in general.
John Curran notes that those on the list had already noted their concerns on the election of BoT about themselves. We don't want the board elected by a popularity contest. The stewardship operation of ARIN is just as important as the allocation operation. Randy reinforces that the stewardship role is very important.
Armand of Sirius asks, "Why not have the allocations charged based on individual allocations instead of having the group ISP allocation mechanism?" The ISP allocation fees are based on cumulative allocations, not individual allocations. The individual charges are just that, charges for individual allocations.
Someone from RIPE suggested that folks read RIPE-143 for the RIPE view on many of these issues.
Sean Donelan asks, "What happens with the DDN?" John Curran notes that both IANA and NSF have responsibility for the allocation of address space. ARIN is a proposal being considered by NSF and IANA for the future management of the IP Address allocation.