[arin-ppml] Policy Proposal 2008-6: Emergency TransferPolicyforIPv4 Addresses - Last Call

[michael.dillon at bt.com]

> The stupidity of this discussion is breathtaking.  ARIN has 
> yet to even begin to change its IPV4 billing policy to make 
> the cost of IPV4 addresses uniform.  That, in turn, would 
> strongly encourage the large ISP's (where much of the 
> momentum for IPV6 transition needs to take
> place) to begin the transition.  At the same time, it would 
> not hurt the "little guy", as their costs would change very 
> little, if any.

You should raise this issue on the ARIN members mailing list.
They are the ones who set the fees, not us.

This is the public policy list where anyone concerned
with ARIN policy can influence the ARIN Advisory Council
to make changes to policies. However, the AC has no
control over billing at all.

ARIN fees are controlled only by the ARIN members and
the ARIN Board of Trustees.

Also, it is worth noting that it is not ARIN's responsibility
to transition the Internet to IPv6. That responsibility lies
collectively on the ISPs who make up the Internet, many of
whom are not in the ARIN region.

> If that timeframe is still within the IPV4 runout window, 
> then great, the world may not end at that time, and ARIN, et 
> al, still have time to institute coherent policies to make it 
> happen in an ORDERLY fashion.

When IPv4 addresses runout, the Internet will continue to 
function as normal. A very few people and companies will
be inconvenienced as they try to ADD CONNECTIVITY, and
of course, a few ISPs will find themselves in a postion
where they cannot grow their IPv4 networks and therefore
can no longer grow their business using IPv4.

Even if everybody waits until this happens, before starting
to offer commercial IPv6 services, it is still soon enough.
The point that many have been making is that if an ISP begins
IPv6 testing and deployment today, they will be in a position
to take business away from lazy competitors when that day
comes. This is not a bad thing and happens all the time in
business and in society (Obama vs. George W.) so we don't
need to change any policies to fix a non-existent problem.

> Boss: So, when will we be ready to do some alpha/beta testing 
> of the UI, stress testing, and parallel testing?
> 
> Programmer: Oh, I don't see any need to do that.
> 
> Boss: Wha?????
> 
> Programmer: Our license for the old software expires at the 
> end of the month, so we have to switch to the new system 
> then.  No point in worrying about it until then.  It is 
> inevitable, man.

The fact is that many ISPs are already doing this kind of testing
and raising issues with their vendors because of it. This kind of
thing rarely is visible to the public, and IPv6 is no different.

The best thing that all of us can do is to ask all of our suppliers
how and when their products will *FULLY* support IPv6. A steady
stream of such requests from customers and propective customers,
will spur any company into action. If the market demands IPv6,
then it will come. It does help if the market is willing to switch
vendors based on IPv6 support capability.

--Michael Dillon