RIPE Policy Proposal 2005-03

The proposal is to change the IPv6 Initial Allocation criteria outlined in the "IPv6 Address Allocation and Assignment Policy" The proposed change is to remove "have a plan for making at least 200 /48 assignments to other organisations within two years" and to remove the reference to "/48s" as the assignment size.

a. Current:

5.1.1. Initial allocation criteria

To qualify for an initial allocation of IPv6 address space, an organisation must:

a) be an LIR;
b) not be an End Site;
c) plan to provide IPv6 connectivity to organisations to which it will assign /48s by advertising that connectivity through its single aggregated address allocation; and
d) have a plan for making at least 200 /48 assignments to other organisations within two years.

b. New:

5.1.1. Initial allocation criteria

To qualify for an initial allocation of IPv6 address space, an organisation must:

a) be an LIR;
b) not be an End Site;
c) plan to provide IPv6 connectivity to organisations and customers to which it will make assignments by advertising that connectivity through its single aggregated address allocation.

a. Arguments supporting the proposal
Many LIRs' networks do not have 200 customers to make assignments to but still maintain autonomous network and addressing policies. These require address space that is both aggregatable and independent from that of their peers. In addition, a /48 assignment is not always appropriate; ISPs might have different plans for the size of the assignments they will make and the policy should not stand as an obstacle for them. Such a change in the policy will also make IPv6 allocations more accessible and could result in the acceleration of IPv6 development.

b. Arguments opposing the proposal
With such a change in the policy, every LIR operating an autonomous network would be able to receive an IPv6 allocation. The worst case scenario would be a number of allocations equal to the number of LIRs in the RIPE region.