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RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996 (1.1)

  • To: NCC Contributors < >
  • From: Daniel Karrenberg < >
  • Date: Mon, 31 Jul 1995 19:14:33 +0200

Dear Contributors,

enclosed you find the document for decision under point 4 of the
agenda for our meeting on September 1st. Comments and suggestions
are always welcome.

While it is desirable to propose several alternative packages of
activities at this stage in the decision process, this is hardly
possible for 1996.  The NCC is currently still suffering a serious
shortage of personnel resources.  This shortage was created by the
funding problems in 1995 as well as the unclear funding situation that
existed until Q2/1995.  We are only slowly recovering from this problem.

PostScript follows ASCII as usual. Use the PostScript if you can,
because it contains typographical information lost in the ASCII.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
I will respond a.s.a.p. after my return from vacation on August 14th.

Regards

Daniel Karrenberg
RIPE NCC Manager

                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________




                       RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996



                                 Daniel Karrenberg
                                      RIPE NCC
                                    Version 1.1



    Scope

                This memorandum describes the  RIPE  NCC  activities
                and  associated  expenditure for the year 1996.  The
                companion document  "RIPE  NCC  Revenue  &  Charging
                1996"  describes ways to generate the necessary rev-
                enue.

                The "RIPE NCC Activity Plan" (ripe-125) defines  the
                activities  of the RIPE NCC desired by the RIPE com-
                munity.  Based on that document in  this  memorandum
                the  RIPE NCC manager describes the activities which
                the NCC will be able to carry out in 1996 and speci-
                fies  the  resources  needed.   The NCC Contributors
                Committee then produces compulsory advice to  TERENA
                about  the  activities  they wish to see carried out
                and the resources they will commit for this  as  per
                point 3.2 of the committee's terms of reference.


    1.  Workload & Challenges

                The  bulk  of  resources expended by the RIPE NCC is
                proportional to the number of  local  Internet  Reg-
                istries  which  in  turn is mostly equivalent to the
                number of serious Internet service providers.   Con-
                sequently  any  estimate of the resources needed has
                to start from a prediction of the  number  of  local
                registries.   This  number has been growing steadily
                ever since the NCC has started operations.

                Recently the growth rate has considerably increased.
                In  Q1/95,  after  the  introduction  of the current
                charging scheme, a sharp increase in the  number  of
                local  IRs  was  observed.   This trend continued in
                Q2/95 and still continues to this day.  For  details
                see the report on the 1995 revenue situation.



                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 1
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

                The  table  below  gives an overview of the observed
                and expected number of registries:


         +------------+-----------------+-----------------------------------+
         |            |    Observed     |             Expected              |
         |Registries  |  Q4    Q1    Q2 |  Q3    Q4    Q1    Q2    Q3    Q4 |
         |            |  94    95    95 |  95    95    96    96    96    96 |
         +------------+-----------------+-----------------------------------+
         |  Large ISP |  17    17    19 |  20    22    24    26    28    30 |
         | Medium ISP |  28    31    35 |  38    42    46    50    54    58 |
         |  Small ISP |  51    84   119 | 153   188   222   256   290   324 |
         | Enterprise |  14    15    17 |  18    20    22    24    26    28 |
         |Last Resort |  31    32    32 |  32    32    32    32    32    32 |
         |            |                 |                                   |
         |      TOTAL | 141   179   222 | 261   304   346   388   430   472 |
         +------------+-----------------+-----------------------------------+


                The figure below  illustrates  that  we  expect  the
                total  number of registries is expected to grow lin-
                earily during 1996:

           500++---------------------------------------------------+
               |                 |                            A    |
               |                 |                          **     |
           450++                 |                        **       |
               |                 |                      *A         |
           400++                 |                    **           |
               |                 |                 *A*             |
               |                 |              ***                |
           350++                 |           *A*                   |
               |                 |         **                      |
           300++                 |       A*                        |
               |                 |     **                          |
               |                 |   **                            |
           250++                 | *A                              |
               |                ***                                |
               |             *A* |                                 |
           200++           **    |                                 |
               |        *A*      |                                 |
           150++      **         |                                 |
               |    A*           |                                 |
               |                 |                                 |
           100++----+----+----+-----+----+----+-----+----+----+----+
                   Q4   Q1   Q2    Q3   Q4   Q1    Q2   Q3   Q4    .
                 1994          1995                 1996           .

                The almost linear prediction looks  very  simple  at
                first  glance.   Some  other indicators predict more
                than linear growth  while  others  predict  slightly
                less  than  linear  growth.  These numbers represent
                the best possible estimates the  RIPE  NCC  is  able
                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 2
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

                produce.   We now have mechanisms in place to detect
                deviations from expected figures  very  quickly  and
                take necessary actions.


    Challenges

                Given  the  increased  growth  rates and the current
                staffing situation there are two main challenges for
                the year 1996 are


                  o  Consolidation of Registration Services

                  o  Re-Start of Other Activities.


                Registration services are the most critical services
                the NCC provides.  They are critical both  in  terms
                of  response time and of quality.  Quality is mainly
                measured in the degree of fairness and  transparency
                of  decisions  as  well  as the support of the local
                IRs, the customers.

                With the  high  growth  rate  of  requests  and  the
                increasing  number of players, registration services
                are undergoing a major transition and will  continue
                this  process  through  much  of  1996.   The  major
                aspects of this are similar to the issues  currently
                faced by ISPs:


                Increasing Division of Work
                     During  1996 we will reach a total of 9 persons
                     spending the majority of their time  on  regis-
                     tration  services, compared to three persons at
                     this stage.  This necessitates a total revision
                     of how this work is organised.


                Hierarchical Organisation
                     We  will  introduce  a much clearer division of
                     senior vs junior and second-line vs  first-line
                     support.


                Dedicated Person per Customer
                     The  first-line support persons will have their
                     own set of customers,  so  that  each  customer
                     normally deals with only one person at the NCC.



                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 3
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

                Request Tracking
                     The flow of requests  among  this  many  people
                     necessitates other queueing and tracking mecha-
                     nisms  than  electronic   mailboxes.    Several
                     request  tracking  (trouble  ticketing) systems
                     have been  evaluated.   Ticketing  and  message
                     lookup by ticket number is already implemented.
                     Request tracking will be added as soon as prac-
                     tical.


                Resource Accounting
                     Together with request tracking we will get much
                     more detailed  insight  in  how  resources  are
                     being  used  in registration services.  We will
                     develop these data to detect problems and  fur-
                     ther  optimise  registration services.  We will
                     also investigate  how  this  can  be  used  for
                     charging purposes.


                Documentation and Training
                     With the increasing number of customers, train-
                     ing and documentation are  increasingly  impor-
                     tant.   We have already started specific train-
                     ing courses  about  registration  services  for
                     both  new and established customers.  This will
                     continue together with improvements in documen-
                     tation.


                Due to the high growth rate in registration services
                and critical staffing situation the other NCC activ-
                ities  have  been  suffering  badly.   Some of these
                activities  are  quite  important  to  the  European
                Internet  community and have to be continued or even
                intensifies.  Furthermore it is important  that  the
                NCC  keeps  doing  other work than registration ser-
                vices in  order  to  keep  highly  qualified  people
                interested to work here.  Therefore other activities
                have to be (re-) started  during  1996  with  enough
                resources to produce useful results.











                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 4
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    2.  1996 Activities & Expenditure

                Normally it is desirable to propose several alterna-
                tive packages of activities at  this  stage  in  the
                decision  process.   However  due  to  the  critical
                staffing situation and the continually  high  growth
                rate   this  is  quite  impossible  for  1996.   The
                resource  shortage  in  1994/5  combined  with   the
                increased  growth of the Internet severely limit the
                degrees of freedom to develop alternatives.   Conse-
                quently   I  propose  only  one  set  of  activities
                together with the appropriate budget.

                The table below gives an overview  of  the  proposed
                activities and the associated expenditure.  The fol-
                lowing sections will detail all activities according
                to the "RIPE NCC Activity Plan" ripe-125.


            +----------------------+------------------------------------+
            |                      |    1995                            |
            |                      | revised     %   1996     %   delta |
            +----------------------+------------------------------------+
            |                      |                                    |
            |Registration Services |     358    68    556    61     198 |
            |       Other Services |      71    13    162    18      91 |
            |    Admin & Reporting |      78    15    138    15      60 |
            |       New Activities |      22     4     60     6      38 |
            |                      |                                    |
            +----------------------+------------------------------------+
            |         TOTAL (kECU) |     529   100    916   100     387 |
            +----------------------+------------------------------------+


    Registration Services

                The  "Registration  Services" budget line represents
                the basic NCC activities related to the NCC being  a
                Regional  Internet  Registry,  such  as  handling of
                incoming requests for address space, assignment  and
                allocation of the address space and the coordination
                with organisations such as other  regional  Internet
                registries  and  IANA.  Also included in this budget
                line are the activities related to the  support  and
                the  training  required to secure a proper start out
                of new registries, which will eventually lead  to  a
                reduction  of the load on the RIPE-NCC.  In relation
                to the Activity Plan these are 3.1, 3.2,  3.4,  3.8,
                and half of 4.1.

                The  high absolute growth in "Registration Services"
                represents more  personnel  being  hired  for  these
                activities  as  well  as  some external contracts to
                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 5
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

                produce documentation and training  material.   Note
                that  the majority of the increase due to the catch-
                up programme being performed in the second  half  of
                1995  as  per  the revised expenditure plan reported
                elsewhere.  This increases the budget lines in  1996
                because  the  salaries are budgeted for only part of
                the year in 1995.  Real growth in personnel in  1996
                thus  is  less than it may appear at first sight.  I
                do not propose linear growth with workload.   Assum-
                ing  unchanged   workload  growth patterns 1996 will
                see a consolidation followed by very  modest  growth
                in  1997.   At  the same time note that the relative
                size of "Registration Services"  decreases  slightly
                in relation to the other activities.


    Other Activities

                The  "Other Activities" line encompasses all activi-
                ties which are not part of  the  other  three  cate-
                gories.   These  are  the  technical  activities not
                related to registration services or new  activities.
                In  particular  the  maintenance of the Routing Reg-
                istry as well as other tools developed at the  RIPE-
                NCC,  such as PRIDE, the update of the Database man-
                agement tools, and the maintenance of  RIPE  related
                documents  and  meetings  organisation.  For details
                see the following sections.

                This budget line increases significantly in absolute
                terms.   These activities have been neglected during
                the past resource shortages.  Those in the most dire
                need of attention will be progressed again.

                The  budget  line also increases slightly relatively
                to the others.  This does  not  so  much  reflect  a
                change in policy but rather the fact that not enough
                resources were available  in  the  previous  period,
                causing a shift towards "Registration Services".


    Administration and Reporting

                The  "Administration & Reporting" budget line repre-
                sents activities 6.1-6.4 of the  activity  plan,  as
                well as the formal procedures concerned with billing
                and invoicing.

                This lines increases in absolute terms  because  the
                resources  necessary  for  regular reporting will be
                available again.  Also the effort involved in charg-
                ing  and  billing  has turned out to be considerable
                even with the  current  relatively  simple  charging
                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 6
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

                model.


                Note:
                     The  constant relative size of this category is
                     slightly  misleading  because  of  a  budgeting
                     change.   In 1995 this category was bearing the
                     full cost of NCC  computer  system  administra-
                     tion.   This cost is now being divided over all
                     activities because the  systems  are  obviously
                     not  being  used  just  for  "Administration  &
                     Reporting".


                It is important to note that this figure  assumes  a
                charging scheme for 1996 which is very simple.  More
                involved charging schemes will add significantly  to
                the resources necessary in this category.


    New Activities

                The  "New Activities" line represents the participa-
                tion in special projects approved by the RIPE commu-
                nity  and  the  NCC  contributors, as defined in the
                RIPE-NCC activity plan (4.4).

                The currently planned activities are related to IPv6
                tracking  and  testing.  This represents roughly 50%
                of the planned expenditure.  The remaining  50%  are
                reserved  for  necessary  activities  arising during
                1996.  Note that this is less than one third of  the
                ceiling set by ripe-125.


    Support for New Registries

                The  expenditure proposed on activities specifically
                for new registries is ECU 172k all of  which  is  in
                the "Registration Services" category.


    Reserves

                Although  building  reserves is not expenditure, the
                buildup of prudent reserves should continue in 1996.
                This  is  necessary because TERENA has to avoid lia-
                bility for NCC operations as much as  possible.   As
                the size of the NCC and the commercial and strategic
                impact of its services increase, liabilities and the
                need for stability increase as well.


                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 7
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    Summary

                The  proposed  set  of  activities strikes a balance
                between what is desired by the  community  and  what
                can be achieved by the NCC considering the necessary
                growth, while maintaining a reasonable level of cost
                at the same time.

                The  main challenges for 1996 are re-structuring and
                consolidation of registration services  as  well  as
                re-start of other important activities.

                The  total  increase  in expenditure compared to the
                revised 1995 budget is 73% while the number of  cus-
                tomers  rises  by  55%  at  the same time.  The high
                total growth is a consequence of the catch-up opera-
                tion  in  progress  and mainly due to the additional
                staff hired during 1995.   Their  salaries  show  in
                1996 for the first whole business year.

                Assuming  no major changes in workload by the end of
                1996 the RIPE NCC will have reached a  stable  state
                producing  a  high  level of standard services while
                still being capable of starting  new  activities  as
                needed  in  the changing Internet environment.  Fur-
                ther growth of the NCC is expected to be moderate in
                1997 and beyond.


























                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 8
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    Activities in Detail

                The  remaining  sections of this document detail the
                planned activities according to the "RIPE NCC Activ-
                ity  Plan"  (ripe-125).  The numbering scheme corre-
                sponds to ripe-125  and  significant  parts  of  the
                activity descriptions have been included.


    3.  Technical - Coordination Activities


    3.1.  Internet Registry for Europe

                The  RIPE NCC will will act as the European registry
                for the delegation of Internet numbers. The RIPE NCC
                will  perform this function in close cooperation and
                coordination with

                          a. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
                          (IANA)

                          b. The global Internet Registry (currently
                          the Internic)

                          c. Local Registries  of  European  service
                          providers.

                In exceptional cases the NCC can act as the Registry
                of last resort for European organisations.

                This activity  will  be  resourced  sufficiently  to
                achieve  the high service level available tradition-
                ally with the goal of  processing  fully  documented
                address  space  allocation  and  assignment requests
                within a maximum of two working days.  The personnel
                resources  available  at  full deployment will total
                some 200 hours per week.

                In addition to that this activity includes the main-
                tenance of local IR training material and the deliv-
                ery of courses for new and  established  local  IRs.
                Some  of this work such as technical writing will be
                contracted out.









                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                               Page 9
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    3.2.  Maintain a database of European IP networks and their man-
    agement information.

                The  database  to be maintained will contain several
                classes of objects.  These objects are described  in
                detail  in ripe-13.  The NCC will be responsible for
                the database entries; this includes

                          a. collection of database entries

                          b. checking of individual entries

                          c. checking of consistency  and  integrity
                          of the database.

                Quarterly  reports on changes in the contents of the
                database will be produced, together with  statistics
                about the number of database entries.

                This activity will have its resources increased suf-
                ficiently to resume the necessary  maintenance  work
                (b  and  c above).  It will be executed by registra-
                tion services staff and thus form a buffer  activity
                which  can  be  expanded and contracted according to
                the immediate needs of activity 3.1.


    3.3.  Distribution of the database.

                Secondary copies of the database can be installed at
                other  sites  upon request. It is the responsibility
                of the NCC to keep track of such  secondaries.   The
                RIPE NCC will provide assistance to local registries
                in setting up secondary database servers.  An up  to
                date record of secondary sites will be maintained on
                line.

                The database availability  is  currently  excellent.
                This  activity is not urgently needed.  No resources
                are allocated for  it.   However,  should  the  need
                arise  it can be started up quickly because the nec-
                essary technology will be enhanced in  activity  4.1
                and used by activity 3.4.










                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                              Page 10
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    3.4.   Coordination  of  database  exchange with other organisa-
    tions.

                The NCC will coordinate and execute the exchange  of
                database  information with NCC's outside Europe. The
                result will be that for the end user of the database
                one uniform set of global information will be avail-
                able.

                This activity has seen almost no progress other than
                in  the  Routing Registry part of the database where
                little resources are needed to exchange information.
                In other areas of the database there was no progress
                at all in 1995.  In 1996 this will be started  again
                with emphasis on registration data exchange with the
                InterNIC.  The possibilities of RWhois  and  whois++
                will  be  explored.   The  activity has 12 engineer-
                hours per week allocated.


    3.5.  Keep a record of operational contact points.

                This will consist of a list of NOC's and responsible
                people that will be used as a reference list for the
                individual NOC's to  be  used  in  case  of  network
                related  incidents,  including  security  incidents.
                Individual NOC's will be  able  to  subscribe  to  a
                weekly update service.

                The database and self-maintained (majordomo) mailing
                lists at the NCC have  proven  sufficient  for  this
                activity.  No resources are allocated in 1996.


    3.6.   Placement  of  name servers and backup servers in Europe,
    and beyond.

                On a regular basis the interworking between the  DNS
                name  servers  in  Europe,  and their connections to
                name  servers  outside  Europe,  must  be   checked.
                Detected   errors   and   inconsistencies   must  be
                reported.  Corrective actions must  be  followed  in
                case  of severe problems.  The result will be a con-
                sistent set of name servers.

                This activity has not consumed  resources  in  1995.
                No  resources  will be allocated for 1996.  However,
                the RIPE NCC will continue to monitor  the  DNS  and
                react  to  requests  from  RIPE  if necessary and if
                resources are available.



                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                              Page 11
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    3.7.  Referral Service.

                The RIPE NCC will perform  a  Referral  Service  for
                Internet Service providers.  The NCC will do this in
                a fair and  impartial  way.   The  service  is  only
                available  to service providers contributing to RIPE
                NCC funding.

                This activity has  4  hours/week  of  administrative
                staff  time  allocated  to  it,  which is sufficient
                given the high degree of automation  used  for  this
                activity.


    3.8.  Coordination with Local Registries.

                The RIPE NCC will keep close contact with Local Reg-
                istries in Europe. The RIPE  NCC  will  assist  such
                registries  in setting up and maintaining their ser-
                vices.  This activity may include  presentations  on
                the work of the RIPE NCC for broader audiences, such
                as relevant conferences and workshops. It  may  also
                include coordinated development of common tools.

                The first part of this activity is indistinguishable
                from activity 3.1.  Nominal resources will be  allo-
                cated to the second part.


    3.9.  Routing Registry Maintenance

                The RIPE NCC will maintain the RIPE Routing Registry
                according to the relevant RIPE documents.   It  will
                encourage  European  service providers to use the RR
                and support them in doing so.  The NCC will actively
                work with service providers to minimise gaps in cov-
                erage.  It will provide training and report  on  the
                status  of  the  registry.   The NCC will coordinate
                with other RRs to achieve Internet wide RR coverage.
                The RIPE NCC will identify and propose needed exten-
                sions to the RR.

                This activity will be stepped  up  significantly  in
                1996  to 20 hours/week of engineering time.  This is
                expected to be sufficient to do significant work  in
                extending  coverage and awareness as well as keeping
                the quality of registered data at a high level.






                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                              Page 12
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    3.10.  PRIDE Tool Maintenance

                The RIPE NCC  will  maintain  the  Routing  Registry
                Tools developed by the PRIDE project.  This activity
                does not cover development of new tools or  signifi-
                cant  new  features.  The RIPE NCC will identify and
                propose needed extensions to the tools.

                While this  activity  is  highly  desirable,  it  is
                impossible  to  do  significant  work on this in the
                current situation.  It is expected that others  such
                as the US Routing Arbiter project will take the lead
                in this activity.  12  hours/week  engineering  time
                should  be  sufficient  to track and influence other
                activities.  Once the NCC stabilises in  1996  sepa-
                rate funds could be raised to step up this activity.





































                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                              Page 13
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    4.  Technical - Development Activities


    4.1.  Database management tools.

                Tools for management of the database and their main-
                tenance  are an important work item for the NCC. The
                result will be  the  availability  of  a  consistent
                database.

                This activity is important to the functioning of the
                NCC and will be done with 20 hours/week  engineering
                time.  A prioritised work plan has been presented to
                the RIPE DB working group.  This plan will  be  exe-
                cuted  with  the  current  priority items being com-
                pleted in 1996.


    4.2.  Database querying tools.

                Development and maintenance of  the  whois  utility.
                The  result will be a program, available from a file
                server, that permits  remote  interrogation  of  the
                database.

                Tools  are  available.  Only nominal effort is fore-
                seen for maintenance in this area.  No new  develop-
                ments.


    4.3.  DNS quality control tools.

                Utilities for quality control of the interworking of
                the DNS name servers will  be  developed  and  main-
                tained.  The  result  will  be a set of software and
                documentation, available from a server.

                Both tools and regular output of them are available.
                Only  nominal  effort is foreseen for maintenance in
                this area.  No new developments.













                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                              Page 14
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    4.4.  Special projects.

                The RIPE NCC can  participate  in  special  projects
                that  have been approved by at least the RIPE commu-
                nity. The nature of the participation can be  admin-
                istrative, managerial or technical. The total amount
                of NCC participation should not exceed  20%  of  the
                NCC resources.  Results of the special projects will
                be publicly available.

                24 hours/week engineering time will be allocated for
                this.   The currently planned activities are related
                to  IPv6  tracking  and  testing.   This  represents
                roughly 50% of the planned resources.  The remaining
                50% are reserved for  necessary  activities  arising
                during 1996.





































                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                              Page 15
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    5.  Administrative - RIPE Activity Support


    5.1.  Keeping the RIPE document store.

                The  NCC will keep RIPE documents on line and easily
                accessible to the RIPE community.  Copies  of  other
                document stores relevant to the RIPE community, such
                as the repository of RFCs, will equally be provided.
                Modern   document   retrieval   utilities   will  be
                installed and maintained to facilitate access to the
                document store.

                This  activity  has  received almost no attention in
                1995, resulting in the need for better maintainabil-
                ity  as  well as for revision of the server software
                and re-homing  to  a  newer  platform.   Significant
                staff  time  and  some  external consultancy will be
                used to make the document store more useful and eas-
                ier  to navigate.  The main emphasis will be on use-
                ful information for NCC customers and  will  concen-
                trate on access via WWW.


    5.2.   Technical  and secretarial support for studies undertaken
    by RIPE.

                The NCC will provide technical and clerical  support
                for  RIPE  studies  and  working  groups in order to
                enhance continuity  and  coordination  of  the  work
                between RIPE meetings.

                No  resources  will be allocated to this activity in
                1996


    5.3.  Organisational support for RIPE meetings.

                RIPE meeting attendance is expected  to  be  on  the
                order  of  80  persons,  meeting three times a year.
                The NCC will provide clerical  support  to  organise
                these meetings in order to keep them productive.

                The current level of resources is about 6 hours/week
                of staff time which  will  be  maintained  in  1996.
                Most  of this time goes into organisation of the one
                meeting outside Amsterdam while the meetings in Ams-
                terdam take comparatively little resources.





                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                              Page 16
                              RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 1996
                                                   Daniel Karrenberg
                                                           July 1995
                ____________________________________________________

    6.  Administrative - Reporting


    6.1.  Quarterly Activity Reports

                Quarterly reports an all activities will be produced
                for the RIPE  participating  organisations  and  the
                RIPE NCC funding organisations.

                This  activity has had almost no resources allocated
                in 1995 due to the staff shortage.   Keeping  opera-
                tions   going  is  considered  more  important  than
                reporting.  In 1996  sufficient  resources  will  be
                allocated to resume formal quarterly reporting.


    6.2.  Quarterly Problem Reports

                Quarterly  reports  on  outstanding problems will be
                produced for the  RIPE  participating  organisations
                and the RIPE NCC funding organisations.

                See above.


    6.3.  RIPE Meeting Reports

                The  NCC reports on its ongoing work and outstanding
                problems also to each RIPE meeting.  These  meetings
                currently take place three times a year.

                These  reports  have  been  delivered  even in 1995.
                Sufficient resources will be allocated  to  continue
                them in 1996.


    6.4.  Annual Reports

                The NCC will produce annual reports.
                The  annual  report  will  contain  a summary of the
                activities and an overview of the  financial  situa-
                tion.

                Sufficient  resources  will  be allocated to prepare
                the 1996 annual report.








                ____________________________________________________
                exp96.txt (1.1)                              Page 17

Attachment: ps00002.ps
Description: PostScript document


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