[ppml] 2005-1:Business Need for PI Assignments

[Kevin Loch]

Randy Bush wrote:
>   o it is hard to find a good compromise in this space, but we have
>     to do so, and have been doing so for a long while; do not
>     panic. 
>   o but imprudent blow-out of any one (or more) of the dimensions
>     in tension, at the expense of the others, will lead to articles
>     in the nyt, wsj, and people who wear strange clothes.
> 
> this is not easy.  there are no simple answers of which i am aware.
> and progress will not be fast, certainly not enough to be a
> marketing force for ipv6.  but, history tells us that if we are not
> careful, we pay big-time in the long run.

It sounds like some aren't satisfied with the limited selectivity of
ASN requirements. If only we had a knob like we have in IPv4 (number of
virtual interfaces) to fine tune who qualifies for PI.  That doesn't map
well to IPv6, but we do have "x /48 ssignments in y timeframe" to work
with.

Create something like a "micro-LIR" category which is assumed to be
mostly self serving but with a small allocation like /44.  X and y
could be something like 8 /48 assignments within 1 year.  I'm sure most
companies that we agree should qualify would have 7 business
relationships (employees, vendors, customers, subsidiaries, POP's)
that they could justify assigning /48's to.

X, y and standards for the /48 assignemnts should provide
enough variables to fine tune the policy for maximum aggregation
and conservation.

One (major imho) benefit of this would be making a clear distinction
between the smallest RIR allocation and the standard end site /48.

You would have to be careful to not steer actual ISP's into
these micro-LIR allocations, because even the most unsuccessful
ISP would quickly outgrow a /44 and cause fragmentation.

The difference is an "ISP" is primarily in the business of
aggregating and selling transit, while a micro-LIR aggregates and
provides transit as a side effect of their primary business.

You could throw on other requirements, but you would quickly make it
more difficult to get a micro-LIR allocation than a /32 under the
current policy.

- Kevin