[ppml] Definition of "Existing Known ISP"

[Stephen Sprunk]

Thus spake "Kevin Loch" <kloch at kl.net>
> Owen DeLong wrote:
>> According to Leslie, ARIN staff would like community input on the
>> definition of "Existing Known ISP" in the NRPM.
>>
>> I would propose that the following definition seems self-evident
>> to me, but, I would like to see what others here have to say:
>>
>> "An existing, known ISP is any ARIN Subscriber Organization
>> who has received an IPv4 allocation from ARIN or an ARIN
>> predecessor which now is an ARIN Subscriber Organization."
>
> s/allocation/allocation or direct assignment/
>
> There may be some orgs who elected to be an end user in there
> IPv4 request who may wish to be considered an ISP under IPv6.
> I wouldn't want an actual ISP to be forced into being considered
> an End Site due to an historical but outdated decision.

I fall in between these opinions.  It's easier for me to define the phrase 
in terms of who it is (apparently) intended to exclude:

1.  "Existing" excludes new orgs without an established customer base.
2.  "Known" excludes orgs ARIN is not already aware of, either directly or 
indirectly.
3.  "ISP" excludes orgs that are not in the business of providing IP (v4 or 
v6) transit service.

All of this combines together to form the overall picture that an 
established ISP of any size should qualify, but a new entrant to the market 
(i.e. someone with no track record) would not and should go to their 
upstream for space.

Of course, it's not exactly clear on how long an org needs to be in that 
state, or how many customers they need, to become an "existing, known ISP". 
It will probably end up being a judgement call on whether an org's track 
record demonstrates a bona fide attempt at being an ISP/LIR and at least 
some success at doing so.  Specific examples (minus identifying information, 
of course) might help us pin down where the line is.

To Mr. Thomas's point, I don't think an ISP that uses an IPv4 assignment or 
sub-allocation from their upstream should be disqualified from getting an 
IPv6 direct allocation.  OTOH, an org using an IPv4 direct assignment 
probably should, because part of getting one of those is not being an ISP.

S

Stephen Sprunk      "Those people who think they know everything
CCIE #3723         are a great annoyance to those of us who do."
K5SSS                                             --Isaac Asimov