[ppml] Proposed policy - Defining Utilization of IPv4 addresses

[Member Services]

ARIN received the following policy proposal.  In accordance
with the ARIN Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process the
proposal is being posted to the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List
and being placed on ARIN's website.

The ARIN Advisory Council will review the proposal and within
ten working days may decide to: 
1)  support the proposal as is, 
2)  work with the author to clarify, divide or combine one or more
    policy proposals, or 
3)  not support the policy proposal. 
 
If this proposal is accepted by the Advisory Council or successfully
petitioned it will be posted as a formal policy proposal to the Public
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Meeting.  If the proposal is not supported by the AC and the author
elects not to petition or the petition fails, then the policy proposal
will be considered closed.

The ARIN Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process is available at:
http://www.arin.net/policy/ipep.html

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American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) 


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Policy Proposal Name: 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