Odd.I didn't get Okutani-san's response. Apologies if I'm missing some context.
The idea is to ensure LIRs can receive IPv4 address space they need (based on justifications) until the last minute with minimum confusion.4. RIRs should maintain the current address distribution criteria until the IANA Exhaustion Date.What is the rationale for this clause?
Since allocation policies are defined by public policy processes, any changes to those policies would be vetted by the public so concerns about creating confusion seem a bit overblown.
On the other hand, disallowing changes in policy means you remove the ability of RIRs to adapt to the changing conditions within their regions. Not only are you turning on cruise control, you're removing the steering wheel and brake pedal.
I would think a more rational approach would be for each RIR to encourage IPv4 conservation using whatever policies make sense in their region.That could be one approach, and this is the part we intend to discuss as regional policies after IED (presented as informational in APNIC24).
So, when the RIRs have received the last /8 from the IANA pool, only then would they be able to change allocation policies? At that point, it isn't clear to me what advantage changing allocation policies would have -- there would presumably be very little free pool left for the policies to apply to.
:-) I understand your point, but I imagine a single /8 won't attract too many investors. It probably won't last for more than few months to meet their needs.- What advantages are there to distributing the last remaining / 8 blocks equally to the RIRs?Encouraging investment in developing countries by large ISPs in developed countries?
How much is a few months of new customers worth?
I know quite a number of people are concerned about this point, so I'd be interested to hear more details on what people see as an issue.Given that we are talking about a time when 'free' IPv4 addresses will be at their most scarce, and given the current lack of IPv6 deployment, we have to accept that this is *will* happen. It would be irresponsible to think otherwise.
Agreed.More to the point, discussions about equitable distribution are likely missing the point. The reality is there is non-equitable consumption. Here at AfriNIC, there are projections that the _current_ IPv4 reserves held by AfriNIC will last until 2014. Adding another /8 to that will simply lengthen the time AfriNIC will have IPv4 addresses when ARIN, RIPE-NCC, and APNIC likely will not. This may be a good thing (in theory giving ISPs in developing countries more time to swap out hardware that can't support IPv6), however I jokingly mentioned that if you really want equitable distribution of the last of the free pool, it is likely AfriNIC will have to donate address space to the other RIRs at some point. Pragmatically speaking, these "donations" may be the result of desperate folks with money looking for address space anywhere they can get it. This might be another demonstration of the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Regards, -drc