Minutes 68th Executive Board Meeting

Author: Paul Rendek
Date: 2009/06/03
Status: Final
Maintainer: Sabine Mader

Attendees:

Fahad AlShirawi, Member
Dmitry Burkov, ICANN Liaison
Nigel Titley, Chairman
Andreas Wittkemper, Secretary
János Zsakó, Treasurer

Sabine Mader, Assistant to the Managing Director, RIPE NCC
Axel Pawlik, Managing Director, RIPE NCC
Paul Rendek, Head of External Relations and Comms., RIPE NCC
Jochem de Ruig, Chief Financial Officer, RIPE NCC

Guest:

Rob Blokzijl, RIPE Chairman

AGENDA:

1. Agenda / Comments
1.1 Apologies, New Agenda Points
1.2 Approval of Previous Minutes, EB#67
1.3 Date of Next Meetings
2. Remaining Outstanding Actions Not Covered by Agenda
3. Report from the RIPE NCC
4. General Meeting Minutes
4.1 Informal Approval
4.2 Confirmation of RIPE NCC proposals to membership e-voting, charging scheme 2010 5. Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan 2010 Vision & Strategy
6. Outline for RIPE NCC Budget 2010
7. External Relations
7.1 ICANN / IANA
7.2 NRO / RIRs
7.3 RIPE
8. AOB

Nigel Titley, RIPE NCC Chairman, opened the meeting at 13:00

1. Agenda/Comments

1.1 Apologies, New Agenda Points

No apologies. No new agenda points were brought forward.

1.2 Approval of Previous Minutes, EB#67

No comment, the minutes of Executive Board meeting #67 were approved.

1.3 Date of Next Meetings

The proposed dates for upcoming Executive Board meetings are as follows:

• 2 September, 1300, RIPE NCC offices, preparing October GM
• 5 October, 1700, RIPE-59 - Lisbon
• 7 October, lunchtime (pre GM), RIPE-59 - Lisbon
• 2 December, 1300, RIPE NCC offices, approving Budget/AP 2010

2. Remaining Outstanding Actions Not Covered by Agenda

EB154 11/03/2009 AP
The Board asked the RIPE NCC to continue working on scenarios for the future of the RIPE NCC looking 5 years forward.

Status: 2009/06/03 - Progress will be reported at the next Board meeting.

EB155 11/03/2009 AP
The Board asked Axel to produce a list of performance areas that would be reported to the Board monthly and every quarter.

Status: 2009/06/03 - Ongoing. Axel has produced an initial set of performance areas as a starting point. This will be extended as necessary based on Board input.

3. Report from the RIPE NCC

Axel summarised the report sent to the Board. He also spoke about recent ITU initiatives in the area of surveys focused on Internet resources, namely IPv6 deployment. Axel mentioned that he would be coordinating activities in this area with industry partners and report to the RIPE NCC members and RIPE community on the Internet governance environment, and that he saw the need for staff resources to support this. No comments were made on the RIPE NCC report.

Jochem presented figures on membership growth statistics. There was general discussion and the Board agreed to monitor the data provided to track trends. Following discussion a number of action items were raised. They were:

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to update the statistics pages in the Executive Board document repository.

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to check the seasonal effect of the conversion rate of new members. This information should appear in the Executive Board report.

ACTION: The Board asked the RIPE NCC to investigate in more detail the reason for LIR closures. This information should appear in the Executive Board report.

ACTION: The Board asked the RIPE NCC to split investments into end-of-life replacements and new investments.

4. General Meeting Minutes

4.1 Informal Approval

Nigel asked whether anyone had comments on the notes from the General Meeting. The Board was pleased with the notes and asked that the RIPE NCC produce and publish the draft minutes.

ACTION: The Board asked for the publication of the GM May 2009 minutes as soon as possible.

4.2 Confirmation of RIPE NCC proposals to membership e-voting, charging scheme 2010

The Board discussed the feedback received from the General Meeting May 2009 on proposals for e-voting for Executive Board elections.

The Board agreed with the proposals on e-voting for RIPE NCC Executive Board elections.

ACTION: The Board asked for a revised Articles of Association proposal to allow for Instant run-off and postal paper ballot voting mechanisms for Executive Board elections.

The Board reviewed the charging scheme proposal for 2010.

The Board asked for the RIPE NCC to consult legal authorities to help the Board understand whether its status as an association could be jeopardised by the proposed Charging Scheme 2010. The Board stressed that the issues must be clear and known before any further proposals could be published.

ACTION: The RIPE NCC to consult legal authorities regarding its status as a Dutch Association due to possible financial outcomes of the Charging Scheme 2010.

Axel reported that the RIPE NCC would concentrate on appropriate communication of the Charging Scheme 2010 proposal to the membership following feedback received at the General Meeting May 2009. The Board agreed this action.

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to communicate the Charging Scheme 2010 proposal to the RIPE NCC membership.

5. Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan 2010 Vision & Strategy

Axel presented the draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan 2010 Vision & Strategy. Discussion followed about the proposed new or significantly developed activity plan focus areas.

The Board stressed the importance of solid RIR collaboration to move forward with certification deployment.

Based on the presented plan, the Board agreed with the idea of the RIPE Labs activity. Concerns, however, were raised that ongoing RIPE community support was essential for the success of this activity. Axel proposed to start this activity by hiring a RIPE Labs Editor function as soon as possible.

The Board supported the focus areas of the Activity Plan 2010. They added that they look forward to a more complete report and budget proposal in order to provide guidance in preparing the proposals for the membership.

6. Outline for RIPE NCC Budget 2010

Jochem presented the management budget scenarios up to and including operating year 2011. After some discussion about the construction of the budget, Jochem reported that supporting activities will be linked to areas in the budget.

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to produce a budget proposal based on the activities outlined in the draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan 2010 Vision & Strategy. The Board delivery deadline is set for the week of 22 June 2009.

7. External Relations

Dmitry asked what the plans were in place for the RIPE NCC and other RIRs to respond to the survey published by Nav6. Axel commented that a response to the call for participation in the survey was submitted to Nav6 and published on the RIR and NRO websites. It was noted that the response to the RIR communication from Nav6 was also published on the RIR and NRO websites. Axel commented that the RIRs would move forward in collaboration on this activity.

The Board asked for a short report on the ITU TSB survey completed by the RIRs. The Board agreed that the survey results should be sent to all ITU member state representatives both by email and in printed form. Axel mentioned that this activity would also be coordinated by the RIRs.

ACTION: Axel was asked to distribute the ITU-TSB survey response directly to the ITU member states.

7.1 ICANN / IANA

Axel reported that the RIPE NCC as well as the operators of rootservers I and M have sent letters to ICANN confirming their commitment to operating the rootservers. A similar letter was expected from ICANN, but has not been received to date.

7.2 NRO / RIRs

Axel provided a report on technical and external relations activities where the RIRs were cooperating. Axel mentioned that the RIRs need to work together even closer than in the past in the area of Internet governance and has offered resources from the RIPE NCC to better coordinate the efforts of the RIRs especially related to the NRO activities.

7.3 RIPE

Rob reported that the RIPE meeting was very well attended with a record number of attendees.

Rob reported that the discussions on the mailing list have been very strong.

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to include the IETF as an additional external relations point to report on in the Executive Board meetings.

8. AOB

No additional points were raised.

The Chairman brought the meeting to a close at 15:50.

Outstanding Action Items:

EB154 11/03/2009 AP
The Board asked the RIPE NCC to continue working on scenarios for the future of the RIPE NCC looking 5 years forward.

Status: 2009/06/03 - Progress will be reported at the next Board meeting.

EB155 11/03/2009 AP
The Board asked Axel to produce a list of performance areas that would be reported to the Board monthly and every quarter.

Status: 2009/06/03 - Ongoing. Axel has produced an initial set of performance areas as a starting point. This will be extended as necessary based on Board input.

EB156 11/03/2009 AP
The Board asked Axel to investigate different remote voting systems including paper ballots, use of the LIR Portal as well as a more robust voting system. Axel was asked to present these remote voting systems as well as an instant run-off voting scheme at the upcoming GM meeting.

Status: 2009/06/03 - DONE

EB157 11/03/2009 AP
The Board asked for a final update of text changes made to the Annual Report to be published to the Board document store.

Status: 2009/06/03 - DONE

EB158 11/03/2009 AP
The Board requested that Axel provide an update of the RIR meeting on certification that is scheduled to take place during the week of the IETF.

Status: 2009/06/03 - DONE

New Action Items:

EB159 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked Axel to update the statistics pages in the Executive Board document repository.

EB160 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked Axel to check the seasonal effect of the conversion rate of new members. This information should appear in the Executive Board report.

EB161 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked the RIPE NCC to investigate in more detail the reason for LIR closures. This information should appear in the Executive Board report.

EB162 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked the RIPE NCC to split investments into end-of-life replacements and new investments.

EB163 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked for the publication of the GM May 2009 minutes as soon as possible.

EB164 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked for a revised Articles of Association proposal to allow for Instant run-off and postal paper ballot voting mechanisms for Executive Board elections.

EB165 2009/06/03 AP: The RIPE NCC to consult legal authorities regarding its status as a Dutch Association due to possible financial outcomes of the Charging Scheme 2010.

EB166 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked Axel to communicate the Charging Scheme 2010 proposal to the RIPE NCC membership.

EB167 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked Axel to produce a budget proposal based on the activities outlined in the draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan 2010 Vision & Strategy. The Board delivery deadline is set for the week of 22 June 2009.

EB168 2009/06/03 AP: Axel was asked to distribute the ITU-TSB survey response directly to the ITU member states.

EB169 2009/06/03 AP: The Board asked Axel to include the IETF as an additional external relations point to report on in the Executive Board meetings.

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