[arin-ppml] Q1 - ARIN address transfer policy: why the triggerdate?

[Paul Vixie]

> As for the cost benefit issue, sometimes you just have to see the writing on
> the wall and realize that you will have to spend money sooner or later. ...

alas, not in america for the last couple of decades.  it's all about current
quarter or in-year revenue and expense.  the most that many large companies
can do at this point is make sure they know what they will do at RIR runout,
and trigger that plan at IANA runout.  that may not sound like much but it's
way more than medium-to-small companies will do, which is: sit tight, wait
for an ipv6 internet to appear through the efforts of larger better-funded
companies, and assume that the dribs and drabs of ipv4 space needed by small
companies will not be of any interest to the large companies, so feel "safe".

in this part of the analysis, there's good symmetry between "can afford to be
an early mover" and "is so large and with so much organizational inertia that
being a late mover would be fatal".  in other words the smaller entities who
can't afford to invest in ipv6 until there's an in-year or in-quarter motive
to do so, are also the ones who can do so the quickest when their time comes,
and the "dribs and drabs" of ipv4 space that the big guys won't be able to
use, will tide the little guys over just fine.

note that i'm not just not speaking for the ARIN BoT here, i'm also not really
speaking for my own preferences.  this is the call-it-as-i-see-it department.