RIRs and the Global Internet Community
Establishing new RIRs
The Address Supporting Organization Memorandum of Understanding (ASO-MOU) provided that ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) should develop requirements and policies for the approval of additional Regional Internet Registries (RIRs).
On 24 April 2001 , the Address Council submitted to the ICANN Board proposed
Criteria for the Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries, and on 4 June 2001 it was accepted. At that time, the existing RIRs were RIPE NCC, ARIN, and APNIC. The document details essential preconditions for the approval of new RIRs, which may be delegated responsibility for management of Internet resources within a given region of the globe. Among the criteria are:
- The proposed RIR must operate internationally in a large geographical region of approximately continental size. The purpose of serving a region with a single RIR, is to avoid fragmentation of address space allocated to the region, and to ease coordination and cooperation between multiple RIRs in the same region.
- The new RIR must demonstrate that it has broad support of the LIRs (Local Internet Registries, ISP community) in the proposed region.
- The main goals of the registry system, in particular conservation of IP address space and aggregation of routing information, must be respected by the RIR.
- Other issues concern funding, required technical expertise, setting an activity plan, and more.
Formation of ICANN and the ASO
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions. These services were originally performed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and other entities. ICANN now performs the IANA function.
ICANN was formed in 1998; a year later, the existing RIRs and ICANN jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the principles for forming and operating the Address Supporting Organization (ASO). Under the ASO MoU, the policy forums within each of the RIR regions continue to be responsible for development of regional IP address policy .
Since the formation of the ASO, the RIRs have played an integral part in facilitating its activities: RIRs share the ASO secretariat duties; The ASO Address Council telephone conferences are attended by representatives of the RIRs, etc.
ICANN is responsible for coordinating the management of the Domain Name System (DNS) to ensure universal resolvability, meaning that all users of the Internet can find all valid addresses. It does this by overseeing the distribution of unique technical identifiers used in the Internet's operations, and delegation of Top-Level Domain names (such as .com, .info, etc.).
NRO – Number Resource Organization
NRO was formed as a coalition of all RIRs. The NRO Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed by 4 RIRs (the 3 that signed the ASO MoU, plus LACNIC), defined the purpose of the NRO:
- Act as a coordinating mechanism for the RIRs
- Undertake joint activities
- Enter into cooperative agreements
ICANN and NRO have
stated their intention to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) detailing the conditions under which and the manner in which the NRO will act as the ICANN Address Supporting Organization.
The document still (July 2004) undergoes public comments period.
