[ppml] Policy Proposal 2004-1: Defining Utilization of IPv4 Addresses

ARIN welcomes feedback and discussion about the following policy 
proposal in the weeks leading to the ARIN Public Policy Meeting 
in Vancouver, Canada, scheduled for April 19-20, 2004.

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the Advisory Council will evaluate policy proposals after the Public
Policy Meeting.  The feedback and discussion of policy proposals
on the Public Policy Mailing List will be included in the AC's
evaluation.

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Policy Proposal 2004-1: Defining Utilization of IPv4 Addresses

Author: Michael Dillon

Author's Organization: Radianz, Inc.

Policy term: permanent

Policy statement: 

1. When an ISP applies for IPv4 address space, ARIN analyzes the
   utilization rate of any existing IPv4 address blocks allocated 
   to the ISP.

2. For the purposes of calculating the utilization rate of ARIN
   allocations, any IPv4 address range that is assigned or allocated
   by the ISP to another organization will be counted as utilized if
   it meets the following two conditions.

3. The assigned or allocated address range must be of a size that is
   justified by ARIN policy.

4. The ISP must require the other organization to use their addresses
   efficiently, in particular by using VLSM and CIDR technologies.

5. The utilization rate of an address block is calculated as the 
   number of utilized addresses divided by the total number of 
   addresses in the block.

Rationale: 

Currently, there is no clear definition of utilization in ARIN's IPv4
policy. The result is that different organizations interpret this in 
different ways. This policy change is an attempt to level the playing
field so that noone has an unfair competitive advantage due to the
vagueness of the policy.

This policy change only provides a clear definition for the utilization
rate of address blocks allocated by ARIN to ISPs. It does not address
the utilization rate of address blocks assigned to end users which
would presumably be calculated differently by counting end devices,
network and broadcast addresses.

Timetable for implementation: 30 days after ratification