[AfriNIC-rpd] IPv4 Softlanding Proposal Update

[SM]

Hi Graham,
At 11:54 01-12-2009, Graham Beneke wrote:
>Many communities seem to protect their IPv4 resources from outsiders 
>and I still have not figured out why.

There are different service regions and different sets of policies 
for each region.  In general, it is not about protecting resources 
from outsiders as you look at fairness from a global perspective.

>The reality is that at our current rate of resource consumption - we 
>will probably not even have begun using our final /8 when the rest 
>of the regions have completely run out. Why is there a need to so 
>carefully protect our final /8 when the rest of the world is already 
>using IPv6 networks and has already given up on IPv4?

Until we reach that "phase", we won't know whether the rest of the 
world has given up on IPv4.  The real phase begins when the other 
service regions utilize their final /8.  If it is "cheaper" to get 
resources from this region than to adopt other technologies, that's 
what people from other service regions might do.  This proposed 
soft-landing policy won't have the any impact as it won't be valid 
yet.  In a nutshell, we do not know what will happen in two 
years.  We do know that IPv4 address utilization is very low for some 
countries in this region.  The desire is to prevent a significant 
imbalance in the  distribution of IPv4 addresses within this region.

Regards,
-sm