[ARIN-consult] Consultation - Retirement of IPv4 Countdown Plan

[ARIN]

In 2011, ARIN published IPv4 countdown procedures to ensure fair and 
equitable administrative processing of IPv4 requests leading up to the 
IPv4 depletion event. These countdown procedures have been meticulously 
followed for the past five years. We have been inside the 4th and final 
phase of this plan since April of 2014 when ARIN reached one remaining 
/8 equivalent. This final phase of the plan includes the processing of 
all IPv4 requests on a "first in, first out" basis (chronologically 
based on time stamp) and team review for all IPv4 requests, regardless 
of size.

You can find the processing procedures for each phase on ARIN's IPv4 
Countdown Plan page at the ARIN public website.

https://www.arin.net/resources/request/ipv4_countdown_plan.html

ARIN's IPv4 free pool depleted in September of 2015. Even though the 
depletion event has already occurred, ARIN staff continues to apply 
Phase 4 countdown procedures to IPv4 free pool requests today. With the 
exception of requests that fall under NRPM 4.4 (micro-allocations) and 
4.10 (dedicated IPv4 block to facilitate IPv6 deployment), all IPv4 
requests that qualify for an allocation/assignment are destined for the 
Waiting List for Unmet Requests. Since the waiting list started in 2015, 
over 300 organizations have been added. As the waiting list continues to 
grow, there is diminishing likelihood new additions will receive IPv4 
blocks resulting from returns or IANA distributions in the coming years.

https://www.arin.net/resources/request/waiting_list.html

ARIN staff is considering the retirement of the IPv4 Countdown Plan. 
This would involve the cessation of Phase 4 processing procedures in our 
future review of IPv4 requests that are destined for the waiting list 
for unmet requests. IPv4 request tickets would continue to be responded 
to in generally the same number of days across the many different open 
requests, but would no longer be processed on a strict "first in, first 
out" basis. We would also discontinue the team review requirement for 
IPv4 request tickets. Removing these procedures would allow the 
recovered staff time to be redirected to other registration related work 
activities inside the ARIN Registration Services Department, such as 
handling the increasing number of transfers.

We seek your comment on the possible retirement of ARIN's IPv4 Countdown 
Plan.

Please provide comments to arin-consult at arin.net.

This consultation period will close at 5:00 PM EDT, 22 April 2016. 
Please contact us at info at arin.net if you have any questions.

Regards,

John Curran
President & CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)