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.
____________________________________________________
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 the Amsterdam RIPE office to local
registries in the region that wish to use it. The
NCC would remain fully responsible for operations
including service level and quality. The NCC would
____________________________________________________
ripe-167.txt Page 2
Regional Registry for CIS
Blokzijl, Karrenberg, Platonov
____________________________________________________
provide all necessary resources to RosNIIROS. Local
registries in the region would continue to have a
service agreement with the RIPE NCC but have the
option to receive service according to their prefer-
ence from either RosNIIROS or the RIPE NCC, but not
both at the same time. We envisage to start this
arrangement sometime during the first quarter of
1998. Of course all this will happen under the
guidance of the RIPE Local IR working group and
IANA.
The subsequent period can then be used by RosNIIROS
to gain experience and increase the acceptance of
their service. This time will also be used to get a
clearer idea of the exact extent of the region
served by the potential RIR. We expect this period
to last at least 12 months but not more than 24
months.
4. New Regional Registry
We expect that the above arrangement will work well.
Because of that it will eventually be used by the
majority of the Local IRs in the region. Steps will
then be taken to convert the local service arrange-
ment into its own Regional Internet Registry sepa-
rate from the RIPE NCC. A prerequisite for this is
widespread acceptance, appropriate governance mecha-
nisms and a truly international scope.
This whole process needs active involvement of all
ISP's in the region in the governance of the
Regional IR. RosNIIROS will actively pursue to gain
the acceptance and help to put the appropriate gov-
ernance mechanisms in place.
5. Next Steps
The authors invite a public discussion about this
process especially within the CIS region but also
within RIPE in general. RIPE NCC and RosNIIROS will
take preparatory steps late this year. If the dis-
cussion reveals no serious objections the local ser-
vice arrangement will start sometime during Q1/1998.
____________________________________________________
ripe-167.txt Page 3
Regional Registry for CIS
Blokzijl, Karrenberg, Platonov
____________________________________________________
6. Addresses of the Authors
Robert Blokzijl
RIPE Chairman
<k13@nikhef.nl>
Daniel Karrenberg
RIPE NCC Manager
<dfk@ripe.net>
Alexei Platonov
RosNIIROS (RIPN) Director
<plat@ripn.net>
____________________________________________________
ripe-167.txt Page 4