We’re only a few months into the year and boy have we been busy! From CES to NANOG 57, 2013 has certainly been keeping us on our toes. And we have no plans to slow down the pace!

Here’s a quick look at where you’ll find ARIN over the next several months. We even have the scoop on where our next three soon-to-be announced ARIN on the Road events will be headed—maybe to a city near you?

Here’s where you’ll find ARIN:

WISPAmerica

Covington, Kentucky, 1-4 April

ARIN will be talking to wireless Internet service providers at their gathering in the Midwest designed to promote the development, advancement and unification of wireless Internet service provider industry. Not only is ARIN exhibiting at the show, but also our CEO will also give an important keynote about IPv6 over lunch on Wednesday the 4^th.

ICANN 46

Beijing, China, 7-11 April

ICANN’s next meeting lands in China to talk about Internet policy and the need for continued stable and secure Internet operations.

INET Denver

Denver, Colorado, 17 April

With the goal of connecting with regional Internet communities, INET Denver will host this one-day event. CEO, John Curran, will give a keynote talk on ARIN’s IPv4 exhaustion. Then you’ll find him on a panel later in the day evaluating the current transfer market.  ARIN Senior Policy Analyst, Einar Bohlin, will also participate in an afternoon panel created to be an Address Policy Workshop.

North American IPv6 Summit 2013

Denver, Colorado, 17-19 April

Stop by the ARIN booth (we’ve got booth #16) at this annual all-about-IPv6 summit.  Hear CEO, John Curran, give a keynote talk on Leadership (or lack thereof) in IPv6 Adoption on Thursday afternoon. 

ARIN 31

Bridgetown, Barbados, 21-24 April

It’s hard to believe we’ve had over thirty ARIN Public Policy and Members Meetings. Similar to those before it, this ARIN meeting will provide an opportunity for the entire ARIN community to engage in policy discussions and network with colleagues. Everyone is able to get involved in ARIN 31 including onsite attendees and registered remote participants.

CaribNOG 5

Bridgetown, Barbados, 24-26 April

Stick around in Barbados after ARIN 31 for the Caribbean Network Operators Group’s fifth regional meeting featuring hands-on technical training sessions for ICT technicians and engineers. Registration is still open.

LACNIC 19

Medellín, Colombia, 5-10 May

The next LACNIC meeting will focus on technology and governance for an open and secure Internet. We’re looking forward to lively discussions and thoughtful networking in Colombia.

Interop Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada, 6-10 May

The ARIN team will be exhibiting at Interop once again. So if you’re hanging around the show floor, feel free to drop bye and say hello at Booth #1168. We’ll be there talking about how businesses can plan ahead to make sure customers receive the best possible Internet-enabled services throughout the IPv6 transitioning process.

RIPE 66

Dublin, Ireland, 13-17 May

Similar to our ARIN Meetings, RIPE 66 will bring together the European and Middle Eastern Internet community in Dublin to discuss address policy and talk IPv6 with other leading industry professionals.

ARIN on the Road Overland Park (Kansas City)

Overland Park, Kansas, 21 May

Save the date for this ARIN on the Road event.  Even though we don’t have the all details for you yet, you can bet you’ll want to attend.

ARIN on the Road Birmingham

Birmingham, Alabama, 23 May

Save the date for this ARIN on the Road event too.  More information will be posted on our website soon.

NANOG 58

New Orleans, Louisiana, 3-5 June

Alongside our peers and community members, ARIN is heading to Louisiana to continue the discussions that began at NANOG57 earlier in the year. ARIN will hold its second Public Policy Consultation during this meeting.

ARIN on the Road Québec City

Québec City, Québec 13 June

Save the date for this event too.  We’ll have more information about this ARIN on the Road in Canada soon.

HostingCon 2013
Austin, Texas, 14-16 June

Even though the agenda isn’t published yet, we have it on good authority that ARIN CEO will be moderating a panel on why IPv6 is important for all hosting and cloud service providers.

AFRINIC 18

Lusaka, Zambia, 9-21 June

AFRNIC’s 18^th regional will spotlight as part of the Africa Internet Summit (AIS) this June with the overarching theme of Connection Matters: Making the Internet work for African development.

We hope to see you around.  Which events on our list will you be attending?

And please contact us at info@arin.net if you know of other events where ARIN participation would be useful!

Is your IT staff ready to implement IPv6 on your network? If your organization is like most, the next few years will include transitioning to support IPv4 AND IPv6 accessible networks and services. One of the first steps is making sure your staff is prepared with the knowledge and tools for this challenging task.

How much does your team know about IPv6 addressing and configuration? How about routing protocols, tunneling and multicast services? And let’s not forget IPv6 security. No doubt about it, there is a lot your IT staff needs to understand before they can deploy IPv6.

So where should you start?  You can seek out IPv6-knowledgeable peers from your local IPv6 Forum group. There are also several regional chapters of the North American IPv6 Task Force that offer training events, like IPv6 Canada, the California IPv6 Task Force and the Texas IPv6 Task Force just to name a few.

Be on the look out for industry events boasting tutorials, panels and other educational presentations. For example, the ARIN team will be heading to the North American IPv6 Summit in April, where our CEO, John Curran, will give a presentation on leadership in IPv6 adoption. This two-day educational event that will arm attendees with the knowledge they can share with their IT teams about deployment.

In addition to events and working groups, there are lots of educational resources online. Here are a few of the free resources we recommend you check out:

TeamARIN IPv6 Wiki – list of training resources

Deploy 360 IPv6 Training

NANOG Meeting Archives

AFRINIC IPv6 Resource Center

APNIC IPv6 Program

ARIN IPv6 Info Center

Lacnic IPv6 Portal

RIPE NCC IPv6 Act Now & training courseware

We’ve only listed a small handful here, but there are many more resources out there, both free and at varying costs to meet any budget.  Have you used any other resources to help train your IT staff? Share what has worked for you in the comments section below.
 

Imagine you’re taking a trip by plane. You start off in Los Angeles, and want to get to Germany, and the ticket agents in Los Angeles tell you that the quickest way there is via Washington, DC and London. You take their advice and in three relatively painless flights, you arrive in Germany, safe and sound. The ticket agents heard where you want to go and selected the best possible route for you to take based upon what they knew about air traffic, layover times, and geographic locations between themselves and Germany.

This is generally how routing works in today’s Internet world. Data packets (passengers) are sent to their destinations along a route selected by each router (airport) along the way. Between your home computer and the server where your email account is stored, there may be a large number of short trips for your data to take. It is up to the routers, beginning with the one in your own home, to determine where to send your packets next, in order to minimize the time it takes to get to your email server. Each router makes programmatic decisions based on information from neighboring routers. But how does a router know which other router is really the best place to send your data?

Currently, Internet routing is based largely upon trust; each router trusts that the next router is safe, legitimate, and reliable. While this trust model still works, the Internet has become increasingly vulnerable to attack. Anyone with enough motivation could insert themselves in the path of data and cause your data to be redirected, just like a makeshift air traffic controller could send your plane to the wrong destination. So what can be done to make sure routing is legitimate and tracked so that your data can be safely transported to the correct location?

Enter Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI)! That mouthful of an acronym is the first key step toward secure global routing.  Let’s break up the term to better understand it:

• Resource: Internet Protocol (IP) addresses: the numbers we use to identify locations on the Internet
• Public Key: Part of a public/private key pair, used in cryptographic verification
• Infrastructure: The system in which these resources and keys operate

In a general sense, RPKI is used to certify beyond any doubt that a particular IP address or ASN was obtained legitimately by the organization that requested it. ARIN customers may opt into RPKI by making a cryptographic key pair, and giving the public key of that key pair to ARIN. ARIN then generates a resource certificate and allows them to request Route Origin Authorizations (ROAs): verifiable statements saying which Autonomous Systems may originate their IP address(es).

Let’s get back to our fantasy trip to Germany. The ticket agents in Los Angeles know that they can send you to Germany via the Washington, DC airport because of the information they have available to them. They have assurance that not only does that airport exist and is accepting flights, but it is also certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, screens passengers and airline staff based on Transportation Security Administration regulations, and it has a verifiable history of maintaining this standard of operation. In RPKI, ARIN is certifying that the router’s IP addresses are legitimately registered to the network operator and that the route originated in the right spot. This provides much more trustworthy data for routers to use, and gives your data a much better chance of always getting where it needs to go.

Visit ARIN’s RPKI section for participation details, frequently asked questions, troubleshooting and more.

ARIN has worked with the operator community throughout the years toward our shared goals for the successful operation of the Internet infrastructure.  Many ARIN community-developed policies and procedures directly affect network operators, so our relationship with operators across the ARIN region is very important.  ARIN has worked to develop strong ties to both the North American Operators’ Group (NANOG) and the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG).

ARIN’s First Public Policy Consultation at NANOG 57

Highlighting ARIN’s desire to increase network operator community participation in our policy development process, we are proud to report that the first ever ARIN Public Policy Consultation (PPC for short) was held last week at NANOG 57 and it was a success. The PPC is an open public discussion of Internet number resource policy that is part of ARIN’s new Policy Development Process. Attendees participated on–site and online.

We kicked off the new PPC with a warm welcome and then jumped into policy discussions including:

ARIN-2012-2: IPv6 Subsequent Allocations Utilization Requirement

ARIN-prop-182 Update Residential Customer Definition to not exclude
wireless as Residential Service

ARIN-prop-183 Section 8.4 Transfer enhancement

Then we concluded with an open microphone session. Read the full report to catch up on everything that happened.  All the presentations, summary notes, webcast archives and transcripts from the PPC are posted online for your reference.  We are willing to bet that you can expect to see more ARIN PPCs at future NANOG meetings.

ARIN Help Desk at NANOG Meetings

Throughout the years, ARIN has provided a help desk at NANOG meetings where attendees can stop by to get answers to their questions about managing Internet number resources.  At NANOG 57 last week, our help desk was as busy as we’ve ever experienced! Lately, we’re seeing network operators from other parts of the world begin to setup shop in our region; partly this is because countries in the ARIN region have vibrant markets, but a big driver is that IPv4 addresses are scarce in the APNIC and RIPE NCC regions.  So at this past meeting, we spent some time discussing the ARIN rules and how they differ from what operators have experienced in other regions, and we gave them pointers for how to be successful in establishing their presence here as an ARIN customer.  We’re always happy to answer any questions people have for us these help desks; it’s our long-standing tradition.

Award Season

Last week during their meeting NANOG surprised us with a special award “In recognition and appreciation of support provided to the North American Network Operator’s Group”.  Thanks NANOG community! It’s our pleasure to work with you, and we look forward to many more years together.  That’s one nice looking award!

CaribNOG Meetings

ARIN regularly participates in Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG) meetings held in locations throughout the Caribbean region.  Members of our engineering team frequently give presentations at CaribNOG to help support the needs of the Caribbean network operators.

Which makes this a great time to remind you that CaribNOG 5 will be held immediately following the ARIN 31 meeting in Barbados, 22-24 April. This regional meeting is open to all, so if you are interested in contributing to help better position the Caribbean to address critical technology challenges take a look and register for their meeting.

Happy Birthday ARIN!  It’s time for a celebration.  This week marks the close of our 15^th year.  So much has changed since December 1997!  We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the ARIN community for all the hard work and dedication you have shown over the past 15 years.

When people ask us, who is ARIN?  We say, YOU are.

YOU have been the key to the successful management of the distribution of Internet number resources in the ARIN region.  All of the ways YOU have participated in the work of ARIN, from Public Policy and Members Meetings to mailing list discussions, have been essential in accomplishing the tasks entrusted to us as the your Regional Internet Registry.

“ARIN celebrates 15 years of service to the Internet community,” says Chief Operating Officer, Nate Davis.  “Over those years, ARIN’s growth and success could have only been possible through the Internet community’s participation and support on the very principles on which ARIN was founded, and continue to this day.  We, here at ARIN, are very proud to have served the needs of the community for all these years and look forward to continuing to do so for many more.”

Thank you, ARIN Community, for 15 amazing years!

Internet governance has been in the headlines lately, with the lion’s share of attention going to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) over the past few months.  Now that WCIT has concluded, many are wondering what happened in Dubai and what it means for the future.

WCIT convened 3-14 December 2012 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates where 193 member states of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reviewed for possible revision, the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs), which define the general principles for the provision and operation of international telecommunications. The outcome of the conference was be a new ITR global treaty.

There are many resources you can choose to get details on what happened each day during the WCIT.  Here are a few resources we think are interesting recaps of WCIT talks in relation to Internet governance:

• Internet Society (ISOC) has provided daily WCIT Updates at: http://www.internetsociety.org/blog/wcit-daily-updates
• The New York Times posted an article on the last day of the conference to describe a few of the results of the treaty talks

After a grueling two-weeks revising the International Treaty Regulations, 55 ITU Member States were not able to sign the resulting document at the close of the meeting. A leading objection concerned the way the Internet was introduced into the treaty text. The NRO, representing the five RIRs, issued a statement from Dubai to address the unmet expectations of many ITU Member States and WCIT’s unsuccessful outcome.

The Number Resource Organization is concerned about aspects of the WCIT-12 meetings, which have just ended in Dubai, particularly with events in the last days of the conference.  Neither the content of this conference, nor its conduct during this critical final period, have met community expectations or satisfied public assurances given prior to the event.

Internet stakeholders around the world watched the WCIT preparations closely, and were hopeful, throughout those processes, of two things: that WCIT would have no bearing on the Internet, its governance or its content; and that the event would allow all voices to be heard.

Read the full statement on the NRO news page.

But now that WCIT-12 has come and gone, it’s important to remember that Internet governance discussions are far from being over.  Internet stakeholders from governments, industry, and civil society will continue to meet and discuss Internet governance issues.

Throughout all Internet governance debates, ARIN has maintained the belief that diverse voices and viewpoints are key to ensuring that the Internet continues to grow and adapt to meet the needs of all users and organizations that depend on it, and has worked to defend the ability of all participants to have a voice in these matters.

Be sure to stay up to date on the latest on Internet governance-related issues. You can do this by following our Internet governance pages on the ARIN website and TeamARIN page for information on the WCIT that just concluded and on future events like the World Telecommunication Policy Forum (WTPF) that is coming up in 2013.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks , but it was all worth it when we wrapped up another successful Public Policy and Members Meeting—ARIN XXX last week.

As you know, our October policy meetings include ARIN elections, when ARIN members are invited to vote in elections for the Board of Trustees and the Advisory Council (AC).   We also host elections for the NRO NC, which are also open to registered ARIN and NANOG meeting attendees.

Louis Lee was re-elected to the Number Resource Organization Number Council (NRO NC) from the ARIN region, and he’ll begin serving another three-year term on 1 January 2013. Keep in mind voting for the BoT and AC is open until 3 November, so if you are eligible to vote be sure to cast your ballot now!  Winners will be announced on 10 November.

But ARIN XXX wasn’t just about elections. In addition to a few different networking gatherings, guests enjoyed several presentations on a variety of topics—from RPKI to DNS over IPv6 to Internet Governance. As for a quick recap on policies discussed, here’s what was covered throughout the three days:

• ARIN-2012-2: IPv6 Subsequent Allocations Utilization Requirement
• ARIN-2012-5: Removal of Renumbering Requirement for Small Multihomers
• ARIN-2012-6: Revising Section 4.4 C/I Reserved Pool Size
• ARIN-2012-7: Reassignments for Third Party Internet Access (TPIA) Over Cable
• ARIN-2012-8: Aligning 8.2 and 8.3 Transfer Policy
• ARIN-prop-180: ISP Private Reassignment

A lot of hard work was accomplished at ARIN XXX toward developing sound policy for the ARIN community.  Your participation in this process is what drives the management of Internet Protocol number resources in the ARIN region, and you contribution is both needed and appreciated.

A copy of each presentation given during the Public Policy Meeting and Members Meeting, as well as all meeting materials are posted online for your reference.  A full meeting report is also forthcoming, so keep your eyes peeled.

For those of you who were able to participate in ARIN XXX—remotely or otherwise—don’t’ forget to fill out our meeting survey before 5:00 PM, 2 November for a chance for win a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1!

While resources are often more limited for small and medium size businesses (SMBs) compared to larger organizations, that does not mean SMBs are exempt from the changes that are occurring to the Internet today. Everybody needs to get on board with IPv6 to stay efficiently connected to customers, users and partners. Here are a few steps to help SMBs get started with an IPv6 deployment plan.

Talk to your ISP

If you’re like most small businesses, you rely on an ISP for your Internet connection. This means your IPv6 deployment schedule will largely depend on your provider’s IPv6 deployment plan. You will want to ask if they currently provide IPv6 connectivity, what their internal deployment timeline is, and if they provide IPv6-compatible modems or other devices necessary for connecting over IPv6.

Conduct an IT audit to determine IPv6 compatibility

One of the most significant aspects of IPv6 preparation is ensuring that your equipment is IPv6 compatible and that your hardware and software are dual-stacked to run both IPv4 and IPv6. Take note that a majority of software and equipment on the market today are already IPv6-compatible by default.

Additionally, you should impose IPv6 compatibility requirements on your equipment and service providers. This will prevent performance and appearance issues when customers attempt to access your website and web services in the future.

Identify training needs within your organization

Deploying IPv6 means nothing if your employees do not understand the transition and how to manage it. Aside from our IPv6 Info Center, there are plenty of resources to help you and your employees learn about IPv6.  Take a look at those recommended by the community on ARIN’s IPv6 Wiki page: Educating yourself about IPv6.  And also take a look at ISOC’s Deploy360 Programme page.  Furthermore, if you know of other IPv6 education and training resources, we invite you to share them here or at http://www.getipv6.info/.

SMBs don’t need to feel overwhelmed about the transition to IPv6, but a carefully considered transition plan built into business operation timetables now will save a lot of headaches down the road. There are simple steps you can take now to make sure your small or medium-sized business is ready for the future of the Internet.

By Tim Christensen, ARIN

Recently, I spoke in Jamaica at the University College of the Caribbean.  The college was hosting its first-ever Internet Day, a collection of talks and presentations on “unleashing the possibilities of the free and open Internet”. The day was a great success, unquestionably due to the value that the program brought to the Jamaican Internet community as well as the significant efforts of all involved.

Just a few years before, through ARIN’s Fellowship Program, one of the seeds of UCC’s Internet Day was sown. For each Public Policy and Members Meeting, ARIN gives three selected Fellows an opportunity to attend at no cost. (Note: ARIN is still accepting Fellowship applications until 7 September for ARIN XXX in Dallas, Texas.)  In 2010, Lyndel Fitz McDonald from the Jamaica Fair Trading Commission (JFTC) was the Caribbean region Fellow for ARIN XXVI in Atlanta, GA.  He took away an intense interest in becoming more involved in Internet Governance in the ARIN region, and recognition that the JFTC’s, and indeed Jamaica’s, best interests for an internet-empowered future were at stake. He shared with nationally based organizations in his home country the value that increased involvement in the ARIN community could bring.

One of the people he shared that with was Kadian Davis, head of the Information Technology department at University College of the Caribbean (UCC). Kadian was excited about the possibility of Internet expansion and for an increased role in Jamaica’s engagement in Internet governance. From that excitement spurred a desire to attend an ARIN meeting herself, much as Lyndel had done; she applied, and was awarded the Fellowship for the Caribbean region at ARIN XXIX in Vancouver, BC. Kadian said that the strengths of the ARIN Fellowship program were “the wealth of technical information and the structure within which it was provided. Also most of the presenters seemed to be from leading technology based organizations.”

Kadian drank in the experience eagerly, and returned to Jamaica energized to invigorate not only her University, but Jamaica’s interest and involvement in the Internet.  Her thoughts turned to organizing an event at UCC that would not only draw industry leaders, policymakers, civil society and key government officials, decision makers, and technology experts, but also spark the imagination of professors and their students at the university, who will become Jamaica’s next generation of Internet professionals.

When the event was held, no less than Jamaica’s Minister of State for Science, Technology, Energy and Mining was the keynote speaker for the day; representatives from major tech, wireless, Internet governance, and Internet services were on hand and gave talks on a wide variety of subjects such as IPv6 deployment, security, sustainable development, and open source technologies.

As part of the ARIN Speakers’ Bureau, I was pleased to give a plenary presentation to all of the attendees about the importance of each individual’s involvement in the bottom-up, consensus-based policy process that is the foundation for Internet resource distribution policy today. We were also able to highlight the Fellowship Program, and invite anyone interested to apply for future fellowships, just as Lyndel and Kadian had done.

While it’s obvious that this is a success story for the Internet in Jamaica, for UCC, and for Kadian in particular, it’s also a testament to the effectiveness of ARIN’s Fellowship Program; its ability to inspire and cultivate new voices.

We invite you to apply for a Fellowship for ARIN XXX by 7 September or to spread the word to others you know who could be ARIN’s next Fellow!

Last week, TeamARIN hosted a Twitter chat with ARIN President and CEO, John Curran, to answer your questions about our new Inter-RIR transfer policy. The policy creates the opportunity for organizations to move address space between regions and removes boundaries from the growing IPv4 Transfer market. If you weren’t able to join us, no worries! We have the full transcript below. Additionally, if you have any further questions about the Inter-RIR transfer policy, feel free to tweet us using the #IPTransfer hashtag, check out the FAQs on our Inter-RIR Transfers page, or contact Registration Services at hostmaster@arin.net.

http://storify.com/TeamARIN/recap-arin-inter-rir-iptransfer-twitter-chat