[sig-policy]FW: IPv4 Address Space
Dear Colleagues,
The following announcement by RIPE NCC clarifies the consumption of IPv4
address space and was prepared in response to recent media reports of
IPv4 address shortages.
If you would like to participate in the discussion of this issue on the
RIPE 'address-policy-wg' list, the archive and subscription details are
available at:
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/about/maillists.html
Regards
______________________________________________________________________
APNIC Secretariat <secretariat at apnic dot net>
Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) Tel: +61-7-3858-3100
PO Box 2131 Milton, QLD 4064 Australia Fax: +61-7-3858-3199
Level 1, 33 Park Road, Milton, QLD http://www.apnic.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------
See you at APNIC 17
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 23-27 February 2004 www.apnic.net/meetings
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 17:34:54 +0100
From: Paul Rendek <ncc at ripe dot net>
To: local-ir at ripe dot net, address-policy-wg at ripe dot net, ncc-co at ripe dot net
Subject: [address-policy-wg] IPv4 Address Space
[Apologies for duplicate mailings]
Dear Colleagues,
There have been press articles posted over the past year that make
statements about the remaining pool of IPv4 address space. A recent
article states there is a shortage and that Internet Protocol Numbers
will run out some time in the year 2005.
The Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) do not themselves make
predictions about when the remaining IPv4 address space will be
depleted. They do, however, report on the rates of RIR allocation of
IPv4 address space and on the state of the remaining pool of IPv4
address space.
The information provided in these RIR reports makes it apparent that
many of the recent claims regarding IPv4 address space shortage are
speculative and are not based on authoritative, publicly available
statistics.
IPv4 Address Space: Current Statistics
============================
The global pool of IPv4 addresses is administered by the Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which allocates address blocks to
Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) as they are required. The IPv4
allocation unit in this case is the "/8 block", equivalent to
approximately 16 million addresses. It should be noted that as of 30
June 2003 the global pool of IPv4 address space contained 91 of these
blocks for this purpose.
The RIRs report on statistics regarding IPv4 allocation on their
respective web sites and present a "Joint Statistics" report at each of
the RIR meetings and at other Internet industry meetings several times
yearly. This information is publicly available and provides the most
up-to-date statistics on rates of IPv4 allocation. The most recent
presentation on this subject can be found at:
http://www.ripe.net/rs/statistics/resource-status-200310.pdf
This report states that the RIRs have collectively allocated 19.59 /8
equivalents in the four and a half years between January 1999 and June
2003. It also identifies that there are 91 /8 equivalents held by the
IANA in reserve for future allocation by the RIRs.
Based on today's total global allocation rate of approximately 4.25
blocks per year in 2002, or 5.5 blocks in 2001, and the remaining pool
of 91 blocks held by IANA, it is unrealistic to assume that there is an
imminent shortage in the IPv4 address space. Even allowing for a
dramatic increase in address consumption rates, it is highly probable
that IPv4 address space will last well beyond the two years predicted by
some.
IPv4 Address Space: Allocated Globally According to Regional Needs
==================================================
The RIRs are not-for-profit membership organisations dedicated to
providing neutral and fair Internet resource distribution to their
members, while ensuring the conservation and aggregation of IPv4 address
space. The IANA policies for allocation of IPv4 address blocks to the
RIRs are applied fairly and are based purely on the documented need for
address space.
When IPv4 address space finally "runs out" this will occur at the global
level, leaving each region with a relatively small pool of addresses
remaining to be allocated. It has been suggested that Asia will
experience an IPv4 address shortage before other regions. This is simply
not true. This is because addresses are distributed in a co-ordinated
fashion from a single global pool, and there is no system whereby that
pool is exclusively divided among, or pre-allocated to, different
countries or regions. Through the current system of address
administration, IP addresses are allocated according to immediate need
wherever that need is demonstrated and it is simply not possible for
isolated "shortages" to exist.
As has been done in the past, the RIRs will continue to report regularly
on the registration and allocation rates of Internet Protocol Numbers,
and will work closely with the IANA to ensure the efficient management
of the remaining IPv4 address space.
RIR Statistics:
==========
APNIC http://www.apnic.net/info/reports/index.html
ARIN http://www.arin.net/statistics/index.html
LACNIC http://www.lacnic.net/en/est.html
RIPE NCC
http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/mem-services/registration/statistics/
Raw Data/Historical RIR Allocations:
==========================
http://www.aso.icann.org/stats/index.html
http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space
The Internet Number Resource Status Report, prepared jointly by the four
RIRs, provides up-to-date statistics on rates of IPv4 allocation. This
presentation is available at:
http://www.ripe.net/rs/statistics/resource-status-200310.pdf
Cheers,
Paul Rendek
Head of Member Services and Communications
RIPE NCC