Press Release from the GSM Association & The RIPE NCC
- Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 11:34:33 +0200
[Apologies for duplicate mails]
GSM ASSOCIATION & THE RIPE NCC, THE EUROPEAN REGIONAL INTERNET REGISTRY
CLARIFY IP ADDRESSING FOR GPRS INFRASTRUCTURE
The GSM Association and the RIPE NCC (R�seaux IP Europ�ens Network
Coordination Centre), the European Regional Internet Registry have jointly
agreed to the process to enable GPRS (General Packet Radio Services) roaming
services to be supported by operators globally.
The GSM Association entered into discussions with the RIPE NCC earlier this
year initiated by a proposal for infrastructure addresses to support GPRS
roaming. The proposal was initially greeted with uncertainty within the RIPE
community due to concerns over the amount of addresses requested - although as
a result of subsequent meetings and clarification of existing address policies
the GSM Association's proposal was modified and issues of concern have been
addressed and resolved.
A key result of the discussion is that a task force - the GPRS Infrastructure
IP Addressing Working Party - was formed with expertise from the IP/ISP
community, the GSM/GPRS community and the RIPE NCC and already a constructive
meeting of task force members has taken place.
At this meeting the GSM Association's members clarified their needs, ISPs
raised their concerns and the RIPE NCC clarified its existing IP address
allocation policies and procedures. The results of the task force meeting were
presented to the overall RIPE community during its recent meeting and the
principal results were as follows:
� Public IPv4 address space can be used in parts of the GPRS network
infrastructure
� Existing IP address allocation policies and procedures apply
� Requests from mobile network operators can be sent directly to the RIPE NCC
or their data network backbone providers
These processes will be communicated to the global addressing community by the
RIPE NCC for review by the other Regional Internet Registries and their
respective constituencies. The GSM Association's IREG (International Roaming
Experts Group) has initiated discussions with the RIPE NCC to clarify the
existing process for obtaining these IP addresses. The RIPE NCC has already
received IP address requests from GPRS operators as a result.
Address requirements for mobile devices are still not finalised and work
continues on determining the needs of GPRS terminals and third generation
mobile systems.
The results of the GPRS Task Force meeting can be found at:
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/wg/lir/gprs/
For more information, please contact:
Mark Smith Paul Rendek
Director of Communications Communications Manager
The GSM Association RIPE NCC
Tel: +44 207 659 0430 Tel: +31 20 535 4444
Fax: +44 207 659 0431 Fax +31 20 535 4445
Email: msmith@localhost Email: rendek@localhost
VISIT THE HOME OF GSM ON THE WEB - HTTP://WWW.GSMWORLD.COM
Notes for Editors:
About the GSM Association:
The GSM Association is the world's leading wireless industry representative
body, consisting of more than 450 second and third Generation network
operators, satellite operators, key manufacturers & suppliers to the GSM
industry, regulators and administrative bodies. Membership of the Association
spans 150 countries and areas of the world.
The GSM Association is responsible for the development, deployment and
evolution of the GSM system for digital wireless communications and for the
promotion of the GSM platform. The Association's members provide digital GSM
wireless services to more than 330 million* customers (end-June 2000) across
five continents of the world. The GSM system accounts for approximately 55
percent of the world's wireless market, and 66 percent of the total digital
wireless market.
About RIPE NCC (RIPE Network Coordination Centre):
The RIPE Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) is one of 3 Regional Internet
Registries (RIR) providing IP address allocation and registration services
which support the operation of the Internet globally.
The RIPE NCC performs activities for the benefit of its membership; primarily
activities that its members need to organise as a group, even though they may
compete in other areas. The membership is primarily comprised of Internet
Service Providers (ISP) and its service region incorporates Europe, The Middle
East, Central Asia and African countries located north of the equator.
The services provided ensure the fair distribution of global Internet
resources in the RIPE NCC service region required for the stable and reliable
operation of the Internet. This includes the allocation of Internet (IP)
address space, interdomain routing identifiers (currently BGP autonomous
system numbers), and the management of reverse domain name space (currently
in-addr.arpa and ip6.int). The RIPE NCC also provides services for the benefit
of the Internet community at large including the development and maintenance
of the RIPE Database, administrative support for the RIPE community, and the
development and co-ordination of new projects.
The RIPE NCC currently supports over 2000 Local Internet Registries (LIRs) who
collectively form the RIPE NCC membership. Membership is open to anyone using
the RIPE NCC services. Visit: http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/about/
About RIPE (R�seaux IP Europ�ens):
RIPE (R�seaux IP Europ�ens) is a collaborative organisation open to
organisations and individuals, operating wide area IP networks in Europe and
beyond. The objective of RIPE is to ensure the administrative and technical
co-ordination necessary to enable operation of a pan-European IP network. RIPE
does not operate a network of its own.
Currently, more than 1000 organisations participate in the work. The result of
the RIPE co-ordination effort is that an individual end-user is presented with
a uniform IP service on his or her desktop irrespective of the particular
network his or her workstation is attached to. In November 1999, nearly
10,000,000 hosts were reachable via networks co-ordinated by RIPE.
RIPE has no formal membership and its activities are performed on a voluntary
basis, except the activities performed by the RIPE NCC. Most of the work
happens inside several Working Groups. Each of these working groups has a
mailing list where relevant topics and questions can be discussed. RIPE
Working Groups meet 3 times a year during RIPE meetings. Visit:
http://www.ripe.net/ripe/about/
