[AfriNIC-rpd] Policy Proposal: End user classification for Universities

[Andrew Alston]

Hi Guys,

Please see a policy proposal below.  Please feel free to ask any questions
and give us feedback so that we can modify this to the wishes of the
community if the community agrees with the general gist of this proposal,
as I would like to get this policy up for discussion at the next meeting
for ratification, since the ramifications of this policy NOT existing at
the moment are starting to be felt pretty severely (to the point where
certain institutions are actually holding back applications because of the
points this policy attempts to address, and at least one institution only
agreed to be an LIR out of absolute desperation for the space they needed,
even though we still maintain said institution should be an end user due to
the centralization of their IT department and the fact that their faculties
do not run as autonomous departments)

Thanks

Andrew

Draft Policy Name:  End user classification of African Universities

Author:



(a) Andrew Alston | aa at ubuntunet.net | Private

(b) Louis Marais | lmarais at ufs.ac.za | University of the Free State

(c) Joe Kimaili | jkimaili at ubuntunet.net | UbuntuNet Alliance



Draft Policy Version 1



Submission Date: 28 June 2012



[1] Policy Summary



This policy proposes that Universities on the African continent be declared
as End Users by default, where the default shall apply unless specific
conditions are met which would change the classification to LIR.



This policy attempts to address the problem that Universities at current
are treated as LIRs because of their having multiple faculties,
irrespective of the fact that IT is centrally managed at these institutions.
This in effect disadvantages the Universities who are already under severe
financial pressure by forcing them to pay LIR fees for IP space used only
within their own institution.



At current the only way for a University to avoid being classified as an
LIR is to apply for a tiny block of address space for central IT, which is
then forced to NAT the entire institution through that block.  This amounts
to AfriNIC putting institutions in a position where they are forced to
utilize NAT, which is to their disadvantage, if they do not wish to pay LIR
fees.



[2] Addressing the current problem



The policy attempts to recognize the fact that in the African context, many
Universities do not run faculties that are autonomous in their existence,
and in fact such faculties are simply departments within the same
institution with centrally managed resources, similar to the way a
corporate entity such as a bank operates.



It removes the default classification by LIR that is applied to
Universities who wish to number the buildings and faculties on their
campuses through a centrally managed IT department, and recognizes that
such Universities are infact end users, utilizing the space for their own
critical business needs.



[3] The Proposal



[3.1] Under this policy a university applying for address space for use by
the central IT department to number the various faculties and departments
would be classified as an end user



[3.2] Where a university was connecting schools, or affiliated
institutions, the institution would still be classified as an LIR, and
assignment of PI space to such by a university would be prohibited



[3.3] Where a university had an autonomous faculty that was independent of
central IT, the faculty themselves would have to apply for membership and
PI space, or alternatively the university would have to apply for LIR
status.



[3.4] Under this policy, it is proposed that universities would, as part of
the application criteria for resources, have to acknowledge in writing that
they are not providing such resources to other autonomous entities.
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