[arin-ppml] Encouraging IPv6 Transition (was: Clarify /29 assignment identification requirement)

[Owen DeLong]

On May 13, 2012, at 6:33 PM, William Herrin wrote:

> On 5/13/12, Chris Grundemann <cgrundemann at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, May 13, 2012 at 9:54 AM, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
>>> If we gain speedier deployment and the potential loss is capped at a
>>> single /14 of IPv6 address space, how is preemptive assignment not a
>>> huge win?
>> 
>> It's not a huge win because it won't make any appreciable difference,
>> it's not actually a win at all.
>> 
>> Let's ask the real question here: How does blindly assigning IPv6 to
>> organizations provide any additional motivation to deploy IPv6? If
>> today I don't think I need to deploy IPv6, and tomorrow I have an IPv6
>> block assigned to me out of the blue, how does that change my mind
>> about deploying IPv6 in any way?
> 
> I sit on a peering exchange at one of my sites. It's a layer-2 switch.
> The only obstruction to peering on the exchange is that the exchange's
> owner needs to assign IPv6 addresses. Which they don't presently have.
> They're waiting for higher demand before doing the paperwork and
> coughing up the cash.
> 
> Nor is this situation unique. Two of my three networks have not done
> anything with IPv6. IPv6 is so poorly used right now that I can't
> justify the expense for the addresses to the customers. I could spend
> the time as an idle priority project and it would get done. But I
> can't spend the money. Not yet. Not until IPv6 is much more heavily
> used.
> 
> 
>> Yes reducing barriers lowers cost, but the barrier you are proposing
>> to remove is a very low one, perhaps insignificant to the total cost
>> of IPv6 deployment. What is likely more effective from an RIR
>> perspective is adding motivation instead.
> 
> Plan A: Debate, argue, maybe even analyze how significant or
> insignificant a barrier we're talking about.
> 
> Plan B: Remove the barrier. Look back later to see whether it had an impact.
> 

The good news is that we already have actual data from this experiment being
conducted in Asia.

It led to much greater address distribution and virtually no increase in deployment.

Owen