[ppml] Proposed Policy: 4-Byte AS Number Policy Proposal

[Tony Li]

On Dec 15, 2005, at 11:38 AM, Geoff Huston wrote:
>
> When you say "the dates cannot be met" don't forget that the  
> industry is
> positioning itself against a very hard barrier - namely the  
> exhaustion of
> the 6 bit AS number space, and the transition into a larger 4 byte  
> pool is
> one that cannot be deferred for anyone's particular convenience. So  
> if this
> date will not be met, the only alternative is ... ? This is not a
> choice-rich environment here, and exhaustion of a finite resource pool
> tends to drive a set of imperatives that, ultimately, are not easy  
> to argue
> with.


Might I suggest that this argument is so strong that it completely  
overwhelms any
dates that we care to specify.  Until there is exhaustion, there will  
not be enough
pain to drive deployment.  When there is exhaustion, that will  
definitely drive
deployment.

Thus, arguing about dates is largely pointless.

Regards,
Tony