[arin-ppml] [address-policy-wg] RE: The price of address space

[bmanning at vacation.karoshi.com]

> etc. And if/when there is a mass uptake of IPv6, IPv4 space will  
> become as valuable as VHS tape: impossible to even give away.

	and one of my 80's bands just released their latest 
	on 8track...  no MP3, no LP, no CD... an 8track.  I hate them.


> that the price of a scarce resource can only increase: how much is a  
> LaserDisc player worth today?

	depends on how badly I need to watch the ChuckJones pre-estate
	fight, can't get anywhere else but the laser-disk version of 
	BugsBunny.

> >at predicting minimum and maximum prices relative to a hard currency,
> >i.e. ounces of gold or barrels of crude, or Big Macs.

	BigMacs are only hard if left out for 6years.. takes that long
	for the bun to toughen up.

> >P.S. My position is that IPv6 is the answer
> 
> I agree wholeheartedly. My personal opinion is to leave the IPv4  
> policies as they are. Any changes will be like re-arranging the  
> deckchairs on the Titanic. And will look bad to the outside world when  
> they finally wake up to the imminent exhaustion of IPv4 space. We  
> should stop worrying about IPv4 or speculating about what a future  
> market in IPv4 might look like. [Though an open question is what the  
> role of the RIRs might be in that market.] IMO, it's best to  
> concentrate on IPv6 deployment and getting on with that migration.

	pragmatically, there is a genuine need to retain IPv4
	for the forseeable future - at least until significant
	software replacement is done.  Too much depends on an IPv4
	like thing (AAA, radius, SYSLOG, SNMP, etc) to expect
	wholesale abandonment of v4 in the next - say - 5-10 years.

	v4 just won't be wasted on endsystems :)

(and Jim, you use of technologies that have been OBE'd in the commodity 
space was a joyful trip down memory lane.... )

--bill