[arin-ppml] 2008-6: Emergency Transfer Policy for IPv4 Addresses

[michael.dillon at bt.com]

> I can understand your "leave policy alone" position, but I'm 
> not sure I understand how you think current policies and 
> procedures will allow legitimate transfers of IP addresses 
> after the IPv4 free pool is exhausted, or will otherwise 
> allow ARIN to continue meeting IPv4 demand.

First of all, nobody will be able to meet demand after
the free pool is exhausted unless some organizations are
able to free up address space. In order for this to happen,
some organizations need to make a big move to IPv6, not
using dual-stack which happens to be the favoured technique
at present. Assuming such organizations exist, current
policy allows them to return the addresses to ARIN for
redistribution. If there are more requesters than addresses
current policy already functions under a first-some first-
served model that could continue.

No changes to the method of transfering right-of-use will 
be able to increase the supply of IPv4 addresses in any
meaningful way. The only way for the supply to increase
is for organizations to migrate to pure IPv6 networks and
thereby release the IPv4 addresses that were formerly in
use on those networks. 

ARIN has no duty to maintain a supply of IPv4 addresses.
ARIN has no duty to meet the demand for IPv4 addresses forever.
Everybody has known for years that the supply is fixed
and limited. It is not ARIN's responsibility to rescue
organizations from bad business decisions nor is it ARIN's
responsibility to alleviate the negative effects of those
bad business decisions.

By the way, it is not too late for everyone to start working
with their vendors today, to make sure that their IPv6
devices and software fully support all the features that
are needed for full production in two years from now.

> Remember, keeping things the way they are is not an option.

Yes, keeping things the way they are now *IS* an option and
many of us believe that it is the BEST option as well.
  
> The free pool will run out, and we have to decide whether 
> ARIN should continue to make
> IPv4 addresses available after that happens.

No decision is necessary. ARIN always allocates from its 
own free pool, and accepts returned blocks into its own
free pool.

No rationing is necessary. First come, first served, works
now and will work even if there is a queue of 100 organizations
waiting for a free block. No new policy is needed here.
Eventually the queue and the demand will go away when people
realize how dumb it is to use IPv4 for most applications.
There will be a steady stream of returns which should keep
be able to supply IPv4 users for the next 20 years or so, when
I expect ISPs to start dropping support for gateway technologies.

--Michael Dillon