[Community-Discuss] Soft Landing Policy - Call for Sanity

[Mathew Chigwende]

Dear AFRIC faithful,

As the morning dawns and the Afrinic community is going to vote on the policies, I hope sanity will prevail and everyone stays as far away from the original Soft Landing Policy as possible.  Simply put, this policy does not support internet development, but defines a long, painful and expensive way of seeing off IPv4.

For starters, all other regions have depleted their IPV4 space, so what is so special about Africa that their IPv4 will exist for as long as possible while they are not really adding any value? If a member needs IPv4 addresses, they are limited to a mere /22. We are seeing huge developments in LTE, GPON and WIFI all across Africa. It will only mean that each time one needs some IP space it will be more and more expensive.

To make matters worse, this policy does not encourage IPv6 uptake. Each uptake of IPv4 should encourage some documented use of IPv6 as well. Members should show that they have at least a parallel IPv6 deployment plan.

I don’t see why we need to reserve addresses either.
3.9.2 Allocation/Assignments to new LIRs or End-Users:  Imagine I have an organization that has just deployed a huge network, serving thousands of customers, why would I not get addresses – because we are waiting for a new company to be formed and to figure out what they want to use IP addresses for. No. If I have a valid reason for the space, I should just get it, and not wait for someone who might be innovative one day.

3.9.3 Reserve for unforeseen situations: What unseen situations? We have learnt a lot from other regions that have run out of space.

Keeping V4 will only kill innovation. I have great trust and believe in future generations. They will come up with some innovative ways of dealing with this.  They will not even need IPv4!  So keeping some IPv4 blocks for them will only keep blinkers on them. Set them free and let them innovate.

So, for those who have registered to vote, well done! Go and burn those IPv4 and set the future generations free. Don’t keep them in IPv4 captivity. There is much more in the world of IPv6. Simply eject the soft landing policy.

Regards,

Mathew




-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.afrinic.net/pipermail/community-discuss/attachments/20161129/2f2241e1/attachment.html>