[arin-ppml] IPv4 is depleted today

[Stephen Sprunk]

michael.dillon at bt.com wrote:
>> A liberalized transfer policy does nothing to increase ease of moving 
>> to IPv6, all it does is make it easier to stay on IPv4.
>>     
>
> It forces companies to spend money on IP addresses thus reducing
> the amount they have available for capex and opex. How does this
> make it easier to stay on IPv4? In particular, in all but the 
> smallest ISPs, it now forces the addressing people to ask for
> money that they did not have to ask for before. It is one thing
> to have a recurring budget item for up to $18,000 per year
> for ARIN subscription fees. It is quite another thing to ask
> for a one-time figure which is probably quite a bit higher, to
> buy something that used to be free and included in the annual fee.
>
> Just explaining it all to management is going to be one
> big pain in the rear.
>   

I don't see it as being that difficult if you apply appropriate metaphors:

"IP address space is allocated under homesteading rules: you must prove 
you need it before you can get it.  The amount of unclaimed IPv4 space 
is running out, which means soon we'll need to buy it from someone else, 
though the homesteading rules will still apply.  However, there's a new 
continent out there called IPv6, which has all the land we need for 
cheap, but it's on the other side of the ocean so we'd need ships called 
'NAT-PT devices' for our customers to get back and forth until everyone 
else has migrated over too.  Or, we can build taller buildings, using 
NAT construction, here on the IPv4 mainland to house more customers on 
less land, but those buildings are more expensive to buy and maintain, 
fall down frequently, and one day we'll need those same NAT-PT ships to 
get to all the folks over on the IPv6 continent."

That took me all of 30 seconds to read out loud, and anyone with a 
decent understanding of American history and basic business practices 
will understand the broad strokes.  Yes, it has holes like any metaphor 
does, but it's good enough to explain to a non-techie the various 
problems and options available -- and their costs.

S