[ppml] 2005-1 status

[Michael.Dillon at btradianz.com]

> Here is an alternative version that starts with default assignment of 
> /48 and allows for more with justification for the extra subnets.
> I'm not sure if "justify need for additional subnets" is clear enough.
> What justifies the use of a subnet?

ARIN policy has always been a bit fuzzy about justification.
This is where the ARIN analysts exercize their judgement based
on ARIN's prior experience with allocations. The closest that
the NPRM comes to defining it is in section 8.3.

> Please forgive me if I'm not doing this "correctly", but even though
> I've lurked on this list for a while I have never participated in any
> policy development processes.

The only incorrect way to participate is silence.

> In today's environment, an
> organization does not have to be particularly "large" or "complex" to
> have legitimate need for PI space and real multi-provider multi-homing.

Existing policy doesn't fuss much about size and refers to "customer
requirement" as a justification for addresses. For instance 4.2.3.6.

> I saw this come up on the list a bit around a week ago, but have the
> feeling that the provider community, which dominates this process, isn't
> listening. 

I agree. ARIN's policies have been CAPTURED by a single
interest group, largely due to lack of broad based
member participation in the policymaking process. 

> It's
> not that we (the customers) don't trust you, it's that in today's
> regulatory/business environment we no longer are permitted to trust you.
> If I don't have a solid plan for what to do quickly and painlessly to
> switch ISP's, I lose my job or our customers or both. For better or for
> worse, PI space and multi-homing are the answer du jour.

Local multihoming based on geo-topological IPv6 addresses is
also a workable solution to this issue. The main technical hurdle
is that it requires use of IPv6 instead of IPv4. And the main
policy hurdle is that it requires IANA and the RIRs to start
allocated addresses out of a global block that is set aside for
geo-topological addressing. Other than that, it can be implemented
using today's technology unchanged.

--Michael Dillon