[ppml] Big numbers

[Geoff Huston]

At 02:48 PM 4/7/2003 -0600, John M. Brown wrote:
>which should support the idea that IPv6 allocation requirements
>should be "more flexible" and such.
>
>I agree its NOT the RIR's job to determine routability.  Let
>the market decide that.


In which case the proposals I've heard to split up the V6 address space on a
country-by-country basis get harder and harder to fend off. The RIR structure
is, as far as I can tell, attuned to creating a rational deployment 
scenario that
preserves the viability and utility of the network in its entirety. We've 
always
argued that other address distribution mechanisms would result in a 
non-functional
network, and one of the grounds we've used is that of a fragmented address
deployment that would be beyond the capability of equipment (hardware
and software) to support. I'm really not sure that we are prepared to walk
away and call routability a function of the market.

(I also also wonder how such a market could function in an inter-provider world
with a market for routing advertisements. Who pays whom for adding a distinct
routing entry in the global routing tables appears to me to get pretty 
convoluted
pretty quickly.)

regards,

    Geoff Huston