Regional Registry for CIS
                                      Blokzijl, Karrenberg, Platonov

                ____________________________________________________




                            A Regional Internet Registry

                                      for the

                         Commonwealth of Independent States



                                  Robert Blokzijl
                                 Daniel Karrenberg
                                  Alexei Platonov

                                   2 October 1997



    1.  Scope

                This  memorandum  is  intended  to  focus discussion
                about  the  establishment  of  a  Regional  Internet
                Registry  serving  the  CIS  and  surrounding areas.
                Public comments are invited.  The  ultimate  aim  of
                this process is to achieve rough consensus about the
                issue  within  the  region  concerned.   This   memo
                represents the views of the individual authors only.
                It has not been endorsed by any organisation.


    2.  Background

                Since the start of the RIPE NCC as a regional Inter-
                net  registry  in  April  1991  Russia and the other
                countries of the CIS (former USSR) have been  served
                by the RIPE NCC.
















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                ripe-167.txt                                  Page 1
                                           Regional Registry for CIS
                                      Blokzijl, Karrenberg, Platonov

                ____________________________________________________

                Developments  of  the last few years however suggest
                that it is difficult for the RIPE NCC to  serve  all
                parts of this area because in practise there exist a
                number of practical problems.  These  problems  have
                to do with circumstances caused by:


                  -  local language problems


                  -  time zone differences


                  -  travel difficulties


                  -  effort   necessary   to  organise  coordination
                     meetings


                If  has been suggested more than once that the coun-
                tries of the CIS in fact form a separate region from
                Europe that needed special regional support.

                Because of these difficulties the RIPE NCC has coop-
                erated with the Russian  Institute  of  Public  Net-
                works,  RosNIIROS.   RosNIIROS  is also known by its
                english acronym: RIPN.  RosNIIROS have  acted  since
                1992, in close cooperation with RIPE NCC, as a Local
                IR of last resort.  They also support the  Local  IR
                activities  of  a  significant number of ISPs in the
                region.


    3.  Local Service Arrangement

                As everywhere else in the world, also Russia and the
                CIS have seen a rapid growth in Internet activities,
                including a growth in the number of ISPs.  Currently
                about  100  ISPs  are active in the region, of which
                around 60 are located in Russia.  The current growth
                is about 3 new ISPs per month.  Most of the new ISPs
                are located in the Urals region and further east  in
                Siberia.   Because  of this growth and the difficul-
                ties described above, the RIPE NCC is exploring ways
                to ensure optimal service for these registries.

                The RIPE NCC are currently considering to ask RosNI-
                IROS  to provide full local  support  equivalent  to
                that  supplied by th