[AFRINIC-rpd] End-User vs. LIR for HEIs

[Guy Antony Halse]

Hi

On Fri 2013-01-18 (07:18), Pierre Lotis NANKEP wrote:
> ] Should we discuss if IP addresses should be Assigned OR
> ] Allocated to an HEI Network (i.e End-User or LIR)? Should
> ] HEI Networks be pre-categorised as EU or LIR by default
> ] no matter what their infrastructure and services are?

> In many cases, HEI will be a EU for less 10% and will be a LIR for more
> than 90%.  Hence, HEI = Type_of (LIR)

As has been discussed in a lot of detail previously, that's a very
Euro-centric view of a HE institutions.

However, I strongly support the idea that HE institutions should NOT be
pre-classifed.  Whilst many African HE institutions may well currently be
predominantly end-user type organisations, that will probably change over
time (and in fact, has probably already started changing.)

On Thu 2013-01-17 (23:04), Adiel Akplogan wrote:
] Now as the issue the HEIs seem to want to avoid is the fees
] they will have to pay as LIR, it was suggested and agreed
] that the Board adopts a special membership fees discount for
] HEIs who operate as LIRs (a discount a bit higher than the
] currently applied to EU which is 50%). At the same time a
] review of EU membership fees in general is being looked at

I'm glad to hear that, since I think it will go a long way to resolving some
of the underlying reasons for this debate.  And I think that, in time, many
HE institutions here may well become LIRs and may well see the benefits of
registering as such.  I'd hate for fees to be the only reason people shy
away from doing so.

However, I'd also urge some consideration of the idea of a 70/30 (or 90/10,
or whatever) rule when categorising *any* organisation as either LIR or EU.

There are probably many organisations (not just HE institutions) that sit in
a grey area, where they're actually a bit of both but primarily one or the
other.  This makes policies that view things in a completely black and white
way (as Andrew & Sunday's proposed policy does) problematic for the edge
cases.

- Guy
-- 
Manager: Systems, IT Division, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Email: G.Halse at ru.ac.za   Web: http://mombe.org/   IRC: rm-rf at irc.atrum.org
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