[AFRINIC-rpd] New Policy Proposal: Inter RIR IPv4 Address Transfers (AFPUB-2013-V4-001-DRAFT-01)

[Andrew Alston]

The rest of the world is interested in African v4, because yes, while we are
behind the curve on v6, is the fact is, the rest of the world is also behind
on their v6 deployments.  We are just a lot more behind than they are :)
Sadly reality is, people spoke to years about the fact that v4 was going to
run out, hell, I remember sitting in Cairo in 2005 and hearing the arguments
put forward by Tony Hain about this, no one wanted to listen.  Now, the v4
is gone and people need to keep going while they migrate/dual-stack.  So,
there is demand for v4. 

Africa is in a unique position though, because by the time we run out of v4,
the need for dual-stack will probably be a lot less than it is today,
because the rest of the world will have stopped using nearly as much of it
by that point at our current allocation rates.  Wanna take a guess at what
is going to happen then if we aren't v6 ready?  Just like the rest of the
world flogs us old equipment because they think they can get away with it,
we'll suddenly become the dumping ground for the unused v4 that isn't needed
anymore.  Sadly, if attitudes haven't changed, we may find that many
companies buy into this and actually get those assets.

V4 assets are valuable today, a year or two from now, they will be a lot
less valuable, 5 years from now, they will be practically worthless.  I'd
rather see us get away from our v4 obsession by forcing people to go v6
depleting our pool, than drag it on so long that the rest of the world moves
past it, and then continues to keep us in the back waters by selling us
their now worthless v4 assets because we've never changed the mindset to "WE
NEED V6".

You know, I find this whole discussion to be kind of sad, we as African's
claim we want to be part of the global community, we want open trade, we
want the same rights and advantages as the rest of the world, we want to be
part of the global economies, yet, we still sit and argue against getting
involved globally.  It works both ways people, if we continue to hoard what
we are VERY obviously not using (look at our allocation rates), simply
because "It's my precious" (sorry, lame reference to lord of the rings), all
we will do is further alienate ourselves from the rest of the globe.  That
isn't productive.

Either find a way  to actually USE the v4 we have on the continent, or let
it go, the first is obviously preferential, but if we can't do that because
of all the reasons detailed in my last email or because of any other
reasons, then let SOMEONE get some advantage out of the assets while they
still have value.

Andrew


-----Original Message-----
From: Sunday Folayan [mailto:sfolayan at gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 2:03 PM
To: Andrew Alston
Cc: 'David Conrad'; 'AfriNIC Resource Policy Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [AFRINIC-rpd] New Policy Proposal: Inter RIR IPv4 Address
Transfers (AFPUB-2013-V4-001-DRAFT-01)

On 14/01/2013 12:50, Andrew Alston wrote:
> Hi Sunday,
>
> I'm not sure that having gazillions of v4 addresses sitting in a pool 
> that is incredibly difficult to access encourages anything.  Nor am I 
> sure that being way behind the curve on v6 deployment because people 
> believe there will always be v4 addresses available is conducive to 
> investment.  We are playing catchup on the v6 story, and until we do 
> something about the fact that we are sitting on ridiculous amounts of 
> v4 resources while the rest of the world has run out, and make it 
> easier to access those v4 resources so that pool actually starts
decreasing, this will not change.

We need to ensure that those who should get v4, v6 addresses and ASNs get
them, without going through loops and turns and in good time. 
dispensing our pool to all comers is not the best way to be seen to "doing
something about it".


> When the rest of the world has gone v6, and we are still plodding 
> along trying to make our v4 and our NAT work, believe me, that's the 
> last type of environment I would want to put infrastructure in, I want 
> to place my servers and my websites in places where I can get proper 
> v6 connectivity, and Africa simply isn't that place right now because 
> of all the reasons that have been detailed in this thread.

I am still trying to read the entire thread, but Is there a global shortage
of v6? Being ahead and of excellent development, what is making the rest of
the world have interest in the African v4 pool?

Sunday.