InterNIC 2000 - v1.0

[Jim Fleming]

On Tuesday, March 11, 1997 11:31 PM, John Curran[SMTP:jcurran at bbnplanet.com] wrote:
@ At 18:53 3/11/97, Jim Fleming wrote:
@ 
@ >@ >@      o Issue allocations based on need, not $ (lest
@ >@ >@        we watch the entire address space disappear
@ >@ >@        in the first few weeks)
@ >@ >@ 
@ >
@ >Regional ISPs need Provider Independent space
@ >to be able to compete with companies like BBN Planet.
@ 
@ Yep.  I believe this is one of the first topics to be
@ considered by the Advisory Council (changing min. to
@ /18)
@ 

John,

It would be nice if that Advisory Council had representatives
from the 10 SBA Regions. In the alternative plan to ARIN,
the creation of 10 InterNIC clones, this will happen as a natural
result of the cooperative nature of the cooperative IS, DS, RS
structures that would be enforced. The "Advisory Council"
would have a representative from each Region.

<http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/ADVO/advocate.html>

Region I - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont 
...
Region II - New Jersey, New York,
Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
...
Region III - Delaware, District of Columbia,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
...
Region IV - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
...
Region V - Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, 
Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin
...
Region VI - Arkansas, Louisiana,
New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas 
...
Region VII - Iowa, Kansas,
Missouri, Nebraska
...
Region VIII - Colorado, Montana, North Dakota,
South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming
...
Region IX - Arizona, California,
Guam, Hawaii, Nevada 
...
Region X - Alaska, Idaho,
Oregon, Washington

@ >Why does the Internet keep trying to build everything
@ >around the same handful of people...?
@ 
@ Proven Success?

I am not sure I would call dropping $50,000,000 in billings
a proven success. $15,000,000 belongs to the NSF and
the U.S. Government and the U.S. taxpayers. That money
is supposed to be used to help create more Internet
Infrastructure.

@ >http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,8704,00.html
@ >
@ 
@              "Network Solutions officials have said the lag
@              in collections has been a conscious
@              trade-off. In order to keep up with the
@              overwhelming demand for domain name
@              registrations, the company abandoned last
@              summer's policy of shutting down
@              deadbeats' domains, putting the welfare of
@              the Net above its own profit. The millionth
@              registration comes at a time when the
@              company is under pressure from would-be
@              competitors and would-be regulators who
@              are scrutinizing how Internet resources are
@              handed out." 


Part of the reason this occurred is because the IS company
was not replaced in the IS, DS, RS InterNIC "model". Instead,
much of the IS load shifted to the RS contractor, NSI. This
has helped to cause NSI to be distracted and overwhelmed.
This has resulted in lost billings and funds to the NSF, the
U.S. Government and the U.S. taxpayers.

While it is nice to see that the InterNIC has hit the one
million domain name mark, and feels it has handled the
growth well. There are some things that do not match.
For example, people keep hearing reports that the
InterNIC is losing money and that ARIN needs to be
launched because the InterNIC can not afford to pay
for the activity. This does not seem to be what businesses
would call a "proven success".

@@@@ http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/nicnews/mar97/million.html

"One Million Names and Counting..."

"This significant event illustrates not only how fast the Internet
has grown in recent months, but also how well Network
Solutions has handled this extraordinary growth. The
challenges that the InterNIC's Registration Services
faced over the last 18 months appeared insurmountable
at times, but thanks to the hard-working and dedicated
professionals who make the Internet Registry function,
Network Solutions has been able to leap over obstacles
to facilitate the growth of the Internet. "One million active
domain names is an important milestone in the history of
the Internet," said Gabe Battista, CEO, Network Solutions."

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@


Another thing that does not seem to match is that
while $50,000,000 in billings are being dropped the
InterNIC has had the time to go off an add additional
functions that were never part of the original mission.
Digitial Certificates as an example.

@@@@ http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/nicnews/mar97/shoppingcart.html

"From Domain Name to Digital ID: Network Solutions
and VeriSign Streamline Path to Secure Transactions"

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@


Again, in my opinion, rather than focusing on the same
few individuals, why not get MORE people involved and
MORE Regions involved ? The following plan focuses
on the long-term growth of the InterNIC and the plan
is self-funded from the money that is waiting to be
collected and applied to building more Internet Infrastructure.

Here is the current version of the plan with some recent
modifications...

1. Keep the entire InterNIC prototype in place until September 1998
	when the U.S. Government's Cooperative Agreement
	ends with AT&T and NSI who are the remaining two
	companies that form what is called the InterNIC.
	Abandon the NSF plans to launch ARIN.

2. Fully document the InterNIC IS, DS, RS structure, the history,
	and the line of products and services which currently
	includes:
		Domain Registrations
		IP Address Allocations
		Digital Certificates (see above)
	Make this documentation available to the 10 Regional (SBA)
	InterNIC clones to help them attract the right companies
	to handle their IS, DS. and RS Cooperative Agreements.
	Suggest that staggered agreements be used to help
	provide better stability and continuity.
		IS - 2 Year Agreement
		DS - 3 Year Agreement
		RS - 4  Year Agreement

3. Encourage groups of cooperating commercial companies to
	clone the InterNIC under the watchful eye of their
	respective States and the Internet communities in
	those States, with the following Internet resources.
		1. 3 Top Level Domain Names
			1 Infrastructure Domain - (e.g. .NET, .NIC)
			1 Commercial Domain - (e.g. .COM, .CORP)
			1 FREE[1] Domain - (e.g. .ORG, IL.US)
		2. One /8 IP Address Space[2]

4. Focus the InterNIC on collecting the $50,000,000 in
	billings and get the InterNIC clones to help with
	this collection process by shifting the billing to
	the 10 Regional (SBA) InterNIC clones. This will
	provide them with an instant revenue stream and
	will help the NSF recover some of the lost
	$15,000,000.

5. Help accelerate this cloning via forty-nine[3] $250,000 grants
	from the National Science Foundation (working with the
	SBA) which would come from the Internet Infrastructure
	fund which has over $15,000,000 for this type of purpose.

6. Allocate one grant to each state and direct the U.S. Senators
	to work with the Governor to select THREE companies[4]
	in each state to "outsource" a Cooperative Agreement
	similar to the ORIGINAL InterNIC plan to have IS, DS, and
	RS functions.
	As an example, the State of Virginia had...
		IS - General Atomics
		DS - AT&T
		RS - Network Solutions, Inc.
	an IS company needs to be selected there.

7. Encourage the expansion of the commercial Registry Industry
	by recommending that ALL government agencies
	(as well as Universities with NSF funding)
	include ALL of the new commercial Top
	Level Domains in their Root Name Servers.

8. Plan for the NSF to bow out of the above process in
	September 1998, the proud parent of up to 50 InterNICs
	which serve the U.S. and the world.

9. Enjoy the benefits of 50 InterNICs to coordinate a world collection
	of Root Name Server confederations to provide world-wide
	stability to the entire Internet without the need for NSF
	funding.

================================================

[1] Many people would like to make sure that future plans for
domain name management include some consideration for
FREE domains. In the U.S. the .US domain can be delegated
to these State InterNICs to help clean up some of the recent
problems that have arisen from the delegation of cities in one
state to commericial registries in another, without the city's
knowledge.

[2] The /8 IP Address Space would be primarily for management
purposes. Allocation policies would not change. Service fees could
be imposed, similar to ARIN, to help fund the State's InterNIC.
Each State would set its own policies based on input from their
Internet Community.

[3] These grants could be extended to the U.S. Virgin Islands,
Puerto Rico, Guam and other U.S. territories as funds permit.

[4] For the past year or more several companies have done extensive
research, development and deployment in the creation of Top Level
Domain registries. Those companies could be used to help kick
start some of the activities in each State. California, Illinois, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, and Massachusetts should
easily be operational 60 days after receiving a grant. All 50 States
would not be required to allow for a smooth transition from the NSF.
The current InterNIC would be transitioned to the State of Virginia
in September 1998 no matter how many states are active.

--
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation

e-mail:
JimFleming at unety.net
JimFleming at unety.s0.g0 (EDNS/IPv8)