RIPE NCC Activities, Expenditures, and
Charging Scheme 2002

  
 Joao Luis Silva Damas
 Daniel Karrenberg
 Mirjam Kuehne
 Axel Pawlik

 Version 1.2 

 Document ID: ripe-226
 Date: 14 September 2001
 Updates: ripe-213



 Table of Contents

      Process
      Executive Summary 
      Growth Plan
      Budget
      Membership Services 
      Registration Activities 
      Test Traffic Measurements 
      Co-ordination Activities 
      New Activities
      Administration Activities 
      Charging Scheme 
      Challenges

 APPENDIX 

      M - Membership Services 
      M1 Regional Internet Registry 
      M2 Initial Support for New LIRs 
      M3 Liaison and Co-ordination 
      M4 Test Traffic Measurements (TTM) 
      M5 Membership - RIPE NCC Interaction Facilities 

      C - Co-ordination Activities 
      C1 RIPE Database Maintenance and Development 
      C2 Information Services, Communication, and Education
      C3 DNS Co-ordination 
      C4 RIPE Meetings 

      N - New Activities 
      N1 Routing Information Service (RIS) 
      N2 Deployment of Internet Security Infrastructure (DISI) 
      N3 Unforeseen Activities 


 Process

 This document contains the planned activities for the RIPE NCC and
 the associated expenditures for the year 2002, as well as the
 charging scheme to ensure the necessary revenues. The RIPE NCC, based
 on input from RIPE and users of RIPE NCC services, has drafted the
 document. The Executive Board of the RIPE NCC presents it to the RIPE
 NCC members. The members approve the final version at the Annual
 General Meeting. No changes are made to the document after its
 approval.

 The text in this document does not affect or change any policies or procedures defined in any other published RIPE documents.

 Executive Summary

 The total budget for the 2002 planned activities is kEUR 9,593. The
 increase of 21% in the total expenditure is due primarily to an
 increase in the Registration Services workload, additional projects,
 and the required increase in personnel to ensure a high quality of
 service. Due to the renewal of rental leases, the cost of housing
 also went up for 2002. The activities directly pertaining to members
 show increases in spending, ranging from 24% to 89%.

 Administrative costs show a decrease of 9%. Fees for Local Internet
 Registries (LIRs) will be reduced by approximately 14% to EUR 1,800,
 EUR 2,500 and EUR 3,400 for Small, Medium, and Large LIRs
 respectively. Total revenues are expected at kEUR 9,622.

 An operating plan must be able to be adapted to changing
 circumstances. Any amendments to the RIPE NCC Activities,
 Expenditures, and Charging Scheme 2002 will be made within the formal
 structure of the RIPE NCC Association and therefore require the
 approval of the RIPE NCC Executive Board. No fee adjustment will be
 made in the course of the year.

 Growth Plan

 Following an analysis of the development of the growth over 2001, the
 increase of LIRs is estimated at 540 for 2002 or approximately 1.5
 members per calendar day. This is an increase of 0.25 members per
 calendar day in relation to the budgeted increase of 1.25 members/day
 in the 2001 budget.

 The projections for the remainder of 2001 and the year 2002 are as follows:

                             Actual                       Projected
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
          LIR's         1998       1999      2000         2001       2002
          Small          935       1,257     1,978        2,620      3,160
         Medium          253         346       459          598        598
          Large           75         93        130          159        159
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Total         1,263      1,696     2,567        3,377      3,917
                      

 The growth in the number of LIRs is but one indicator of the growth
 and workload. Estimates for the increase in workload for Registration
 Services are based on this, as well as on the number of tickets
 handled by the Hostmasters. It is expected that the Hostmasters will
 be handling 30,000 tickets in 2002 (25,000 tickets estimated for
 2001), based on past statistics and a linear extrapolation from them.

 Budget

 The budgeted costs for the various activities for 2002 (with 2001 for
 comparative purposes) are shown below in kEUR.


+--------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+

|Activity Area             | 2001      % | 2002      % | change     % |

+--------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+

|Registration Activities   | 3,539 44.7% | 4,367 45.5% | 829  23.4%   |

|Co-ordination             | 2,225 28.1% | 2,419 25.2% | 194   8.7%   |



|Test-Traffic Measurements |   459  5.8%  |  868  9.1% | 409  89.2%   |

|New Activities            |   637  8,0%  |  976 10.2% | 339  53.3%   |

|Administration            | 1,064 13.4%  |  963 10.0% |-101  -9.5%   |

+--------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+

|Total (kEUR)              | 7,924 100%	  | 9,593 100% |1,669 21.1%   |

+--------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+

The increase in the budget for 2002 is 21.1%, including a special
reserve of EUR 200,000 or 2.1% of total costs for various
contingencies. Because this reserve touches on several of the activity
areas, it has been distributed among them based on the Full Time
Equivalents (FTEs) required by each activity.


Total Income 2002

 The projected total income for the year 2002 (in kEUR) is derived
 from the various sources as follows:

			   New-Lirs
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   540                    Sign up Fees                              1,134
   540                       Small                                    486
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Existing LIRs
           
 2,620                        Small                                   4,716
   598                       Medium                                   1,495
   159                        Large                                     541
Billing Charge								 81
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Fee income                                                      8,453
		          Other Income
            
                      RIPE Meeting                                      473
                      TTM Service Fees                                  375
		          Interest					322
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Income                                                          9,623
                                  

 These revenues will provide a surplus of approximately EUR 30,000 or
 just over 0.3% of the total budgeted cost of the activities.

 Membership Services

 Registration Activities

 Registration activities represent operations relating to the RIPE NCC
 role as a Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for its service
 region. They include the handling of requests for assignment and
 allocation of IP address space and AS numbers, management of reverse
 domain name space associated with this address space, and the
 auditing and quality control necessary to ensure fair and expedient
 processing of requests.

 Also included are training of Local Internet Registries, preparation
 and writing of documentation related to Internet registration
 policies and procedures, and specific activities that guarantee a
 proper and appropriate start for new LIRs. Services provided in this
 area are available only to members that contribute to the funding of
 the RIPE NCC.

 The focus in Registration Services (RS) in 2002 will be on coping
 with the continued rapid growth and planning for future challenges
 and workload. A firm decision has been made to increase the current
 staffing of Hostmasters to secure full control of the workload. This
 will enable the RS to cope with the high peaks of the workload, in
 addition to the normal workload in the Registration Services. These
 resources will be invested in stabilising the services provided and
 additional efforts will be devoted to improve efficiency and quality.
 
 With this aim, the RIPE NCC will focus on documentation, education of
 newer members, and improving internal processes and procedures.

 With past and future staffing increases in the Registration Services,
 it is recognised that higher focus on the management of the
 department will be required. It is vital to continue the pro-active
 development of address policies as this has a significant influence
 on the operations of both the RS and the membership.

 The RIPE NCC has therefore split the Registration Services manager
 function, which has been replaced with the more specific
 'Registration Services Operations Manager' function and the 'Internet
 Address Policy Manager' function. With these two new functions in
 place, the RIPE NCC is thus injecting more resources and focus on
 both these areas. The results of this change are expected to show in
 the year 2002.

 As the LIR Training Course has proven to be an effective method for
 quickly educating newer members, it will be increased from the
 current level of 50 courses per year. Additions to the pool of
 trainers will be considered and the course material will be further
 refined.

 Based on recent increase in demand in IPv6, the interest in IPv6 is
 expected to continue to grow at a stable rate. IPv6 address space
 registration will become increasingly important.  The RIPE NCC
 continues to gain more experience with IPv6 and Registration Services
 is becoming progressively skilled in handling requests for IPv6
 address space. The RIPE NCC will continue its close co-ordination
 work with the other RIRs in the evaluation of IPv6 requests, and the
 development of IPv6 address assignment and allocation policies and
 procedures. The RIPE NCC will invest further efforts in gaining
 operational experience with IPv6 to increase its overall
 understanding.

 Developments in the area of WAP, GPRS, UMTS, 3G, and other
 technologies related to the Internet and the services provided by the
 RIPE NCC will be followed carefully, keeping abreast with relevant
 technologies. It will also continue its current co-operation with
 other relevant Internet organisations, ensuring a constant injection
 of technical knowledge and awareness in the Registration Services.

 Liaison activities with other existing RIRs will further intensify,
 resulting in enhanced co-ordination in matters related to Internet
 Address and ASN policies. Current support to emerging RIRs,
 particularly AfriNIC, will also continue in the coming year.

 Test Traffic Measurements

 The goal of the Test Traffic Measurements (TTM) is to conduct
 independent measurements of performance related quantities of the
 Internet and in particular between the networks operated by the
 membership. Examples of such quantities are the delay, loss, or
 routing vector between two points. To measure these quantities, the
 RIPE NCC installs dedicated measurement stations (so-called
 "test-boxes"), operates them, analyses the data, and reports the
 results to the participants.

 Since July 2001, sites participating in the TTM are charged an
 (pro-rated) annual service fee of EUR 3,000 for the first test-box
 and EUR 1,500 each for the second and additional test-boxes. They
 also pay for the costs of the hardware installed at their site. The
 resources budgeted for 2002 provide the means to:

      - Continue to run and expand the network;

      - Offer services to the sites already participating in the project;

      - Pursue the development of new services based on the Test Traffic data;

      - Offer user training on how to use the TTM data in daily operations; and

      - Develop additional measurements using the test-boxes. 

 This activity represents about 16.6% of the total Membership Services budget.

 Additional information on Test Traffic Measurements can be found at:
 http://www.ripe.net/test-traffic. 

 Co-ordination Activities

 The common purpose of these diverse activities is to support the
 coherent operation of the Internet in the RIPE region. The primary
 activity is the provision of access to the RIPE Database, providing
 information about address space, routing policies and reverse DNS
 information together with the appropriate contact points.

 Development and publication of RIPE Database software, provision of
 information services for ISPs and the public via the Internet fall
 under co-ordination activities.

 Operational co-ordination also comes under this category as does the
 production and publication of software tools for such efforts.

 Other important co-ordination activities include the maintenance of
 the root name server that the RIPE NCC operates.

 The services performed in this area, to be effective, must be
 constantly accessible to the Internet community. Whenever special
 support is needed, the RIPE NCC members receive priority over other
 users.

 Another key co-ordination activity is the organisation of the three
 RIPE Meetings every year.  These meetings have extended their
 traditional discussions and now also play an important role in the
 work of the ICANN Address Supporting Organisation. Although the fees
 charged cover direct costs such as venue and equipment rental, meals,
 etc., of the RIPE meetings, the RIPE NCC covers all the indirect
 costs. These include the logistical support, registration,
 documentation, minute taking, the maintenance of the RIPE web site,
 etc. These amount to approximately 2.5 Full Time Equivalents.

 Legitimacy and representation of the RIPE NCC continue to be an
 important focus for 2002.  The Activity Plan for 2002 foresees more
 concentration on new technologies and industries that could have an
 impact on IP address usage rate and the Internet Registry System.
 External representation of the RIPE NCC and the RIPE community to
 third party organisations (new industries, governments, the European
 Parliament, ICANN, etc.) is also a notable co-ordination activity.

 During 2002, the RIPE NCC will ensure continued support to activities
 related to the Routing Registry. These include the extension of
 activities related to the Routing Registry Consistency Check (RRCC)
 project and the responsibility for the support and development of the
 RAToolset.

 During 2002, work will continue to increase support for IPv6 and
 multicast applications in the IRR. Additionally, security aspects of
 interaction with the RIPE Database will be an important item.

 Efforts will be continued to provide proper data maintenance, data
 management, and data analysis tools, including regular updates on the
 status of the data in the database as well as general help with good
 data maintenance practices. Database and related software will be
 actively maintained and developed to ensure that new features are
 available to meet user needs.

 During 2002, the RIPE NCC will spend additional efforts in increasing
 flexibility and security in its interaction with the membership. The
 aim is to provide a more user-friendly and secure means of
 interaction for LIRs in their applications for Internet resources and
 the management of information residing at the RIPE NCC servers (e.g.,
 the RIPE Database).

 New Activities

 New Activities are either entirely unforeseen or have started
 recently and are not yet at the stage where they can be developed as
 regular services. Due to the impartial and neutral position of the
 RIPE NCC, it can play an important role in facilitating new projects
 and services for its members as well as for the RIPE community.

 The impetus for New Activities comes from various sources: the RIPE
 NCC itself, individuals and/or organisations within the RIPE
 community, and the appropriate RIPE working groups.

 If the activities require long-term support, they may become a
 regular RIPE NCC activity subsequently funded by all members. If the
 activities are short term but substantial or continued support by all
 members is not appropriate, they may be continued as special projects
 for which funding is sought separately among interested parties.

 These activities fall under the guidance of the various RIPE working
 groups with active participation of the RIPE NCC membership and the
 Internet community.

 In 2001, Test Traffic Measurements became a regular membership
 service. It is therefore described in another section. There are two
 new projects already underway, which will be further developed in
 2002.

 Deployment of Internet Security Infrastructure (DISI)

 Security Deployment is a new activity started in late 2000. As the
 Internet is used for more and more critical applications, security
 becomes increasingly important. A lot of security technology has
 recently been developed and now needs to be deployed throughout the
 Internet Infrastructure [RFC 2828]. Prominent examples are DNSSec
 [RFC 2535] and IPSec [RFC 2401].

 The DISI project will support the RIPE community in deploying these
 technologies, specifically those technologies that need to be
 deployed in the Internet Infrastructure itself, rather than at the
 end sites only. This project initially focuses on DNSsec and will
 later be expanded to other relevant technologies.

 As from the RIPE 40 Meeting, the RIPE NCC will start to offer courses
 on securing a zone using DNSsec. Information and experience will also
 be gathered by the deployment of the technologies within the RIPE
 NCC. The information will be shared with the RIPE community in
 additional workshops and white papers.

 During the start-up phase of this project, it has become clear that a
 lot of work still needs to be done on the technology and the
 implementations before DNSSEC can be deployed in a large scale
 production environment. The RIPE NCC has therefore set up
 collaborations with NLnet-labs, Nominum, and other parties interested
 in these technologies to help improve the deploy-ability of
 DNSSEC. This is also pursued by active involvement in the relevant
 IETF working groups. DISI will continue in 2002.

 Routing Information Service (RIS)

 The Routing Information Service collects BGP routing information at
 several major exchange points in near real time and stores it in a
 database. An interface similar to a "looking glass" then provides
 both multiple views and information about specific times in the
 past. This is a new and unique tool for ISP operations. Operators no
 longer have to search for specific looking glass services covering
 the area of interest. In addition, they can query for data at the
 specific time of any problems.

 The RIS database is also useful to the RIPE NCC itself as it provides
 information about how resources allocated by the RIPE NCC are
 actually used on the Internet over an extended period. During 2002,
 RIS will move from a new activity to a regular part of the routing
 co-ordination services available to the Internet at large.

 Administration Activities

 This area covers all general administrative overheads (building
 rental and refurbishment, computer infrastructure, personnel, office
 supplies, etc.) that cannot be clearly attributed to a specific
 activity in one of the other areas.

 Unforeseen Activities

 As always, the RIPE NCC will be available to start new activities as
 required by the membership and the RIPE community. We will continue
 to actively pursue developments and spot new needs as the Internet
 develops. We will continue to actively participate in the appropriate
 forums such as IETF and NANOG.

 Charging Scheme 

 The charges for 2002 are fixed annual charges and are based on the
 size category of an LIR. A minimum `size category will be determined
 based on address space allocations held by the LIR on 1 November
 2001. The categories will be published and LIRs changing in billing
 category size will be notified by e-mail.

 New Local Internet Registries established during 2002 will be charged
 a sign-up fee, plus 25% of the annual fee for each quarter that they
 are members. Their initial minimum size category will be
 SMALL. Enterprise LIRs are classed as SMALL for charging purposes.

 The proposed charges for 2002 are as follows (in EUR):


       Annual
       Charge   2002     2001      2000     1999      1998      1997
--------------------------------------------------------------------
        SMALL  1,800    2,100     2,400    2,650     2,450     2,200
       MEDIUM  2,500    2,950     3,350    3,700     3,400     3,000
        LARGE  3,400    3,900     4,400    4,900     4,500     4,000
--------------------------------------------------------------------
      Sign Up  2,100    2,100     2,100    2,100     2,000     1,300  


 The proposed fees for 2002 are approximately 14 % lower than those of
 2001, while the cost of the associated activities are approximately
 21% higher. This is due to the increased number of LIRs sharing the
 costs.

 The charging model algorithm (see RIPE document, "Alternative Models
 for RIPE NCC Revenue and Charging 1997" for more details) has been
 used to determine the minimum size category for each LIR, based on
 the address space allocations held by the LIR.

 The projected distribution of small/medium/large size members in
 percent for the year 2002, as compared to July 2001, is as follows:


 Category        2002        July 2001
                  
----------------------------------------------
 SMALL           79.8%         77.6%
 MEDIUM          15.7%         17.7%   
 LARGE            4.5%          4.7%  


 The expected changes of LIRs between the three size categories are
 shown in detail below:

 From    To:     SMALL          MEDIUM       LARGE
-------------------------------------------------------
 SMALL           2,125           145           9
 MEDIUM             92           330          28 
 LARGE		     2            31          96          


 The data for these tables can be found at:
 ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/local-ir/category-Jul-2001 and at
 ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/local-ir/allocs-Jul-2001

 The minimum size category for each LIR for charging will be
 determined based on the address space allocations held by that LIR on
 1 November 2001. The minimum size category for all LIRs based on
 allocations received before 1 November 2001 will be available at
 ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/local-ir/category-Nov-2001 The allocation
 data this is based on, as well as current registry size, will be
 avaiable at ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/local-ir/allocs-Nov-2001. All
 LIRs should check this data and report any inconsistencies to:
 <billing@ripe.net>.

 Challenges

 Managing the growth while remaining stable and professional in the
 delivery of essential services to the membership remains the main
 challenge that the RIPE NCC faces. The RIPE NCC will continue
 developing current and new activities. It will keep abreast of
 leading edge developments and services while maintaining enough
 flexibility to be able to react promptly to the continually changing
 environment and embrace new technologies and industry players.

 The success of this plan lies in finding and keeping the people who
 work to make it happen.  The RIPE NCC will have to continue to offer
 an attractive and challenging work environment.


 APPENDIX

 M - Membership Services

 Activities included in Membership Services relate directly to
 services provided to the RIPE NCC membership. Services performed in
 this area are only accessible to established members of the RIPE NCC.

 M1 Regional Internet Registry 

 In its role as a Regional Internet Registry, the RIPE NCC provides
 allocation and registration services to LIRs in its service region
 that covers Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and African
 countries north of the equator. The overall goal of this activity is
 to provide fair, impartial, and stable distribution of Internet
 numbers (IPv4, IPv6, and AS) in its service region. The specific
 goals for the distribution of address space are uniqueness of
 addresses, conservation of IPv4 address space, procedure and policy
 definition for IPv6 address space, aggregation of routing
 information, and registration of network management information.

 In correlation with the increase in the RIPE NCC membership, an
 associated growth is experienced in the number of requests received
 from members. The workload on Registration Services proportionately
 increases with the steady, sometimes rapid, growth in
 membership. With the aim of balancing human resources and workload,
 the staffing level of Registration Services will further increase in
 2002.

 To minimise clerical work for RIPE NCC Hostmasters and provide fast
 feedback to LIRs, a big effort is being made to automate the process
 of making and processing requests.  Supplementary attempts are made
 to develop and improve the request forms.

 Training courses for members is an additional activity. Looking at
 the rate of growth in the RIPE NCC membership and seeing the
 constructive outcome of these courses, it is recognised that the
 number of training courses provided by Registration Services should
 be increased. More resources to cope with this extra workload will be
 made available.

 In 2002, both work flow and quality management will have to keep step
 with the expected growth and ensure that peaks in the load do not
 create unacceptable delays or a reduction in quality. The
 impartiality and neutrality of the RIPE NCC has to be maintained at
 all times. The basic procedures will change to focus on the content
 of address space requests and ease the process of providing
 additional information. Common to all of registration activities is
 liaison with the RIPE Local IR Working Group (LIR-WG) and with the
 other RIRs about the general application of procedures and policies.

   

 M1.1 Distribution of IPv4 Address Space 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC allocates IPv4 address space to the RIPE NCC members for
 further address assignments to their own and End Users'
 networks. Special attention is given to these allocation
 requests. Tools to support the allocation process and ensure the best
 aggregation possible will be enhanced.

 IPv4 address space assignments above a threshold size require
 approval from the RIPE NCC. The RIPE NCC evaluates these assignment
 requests. Members can ask a second opinion about assignments even
 when it is not required. In addition the RIPE NCC gives
 recommendations and guidelines for future requests.

 With regards to address allocations and assignments, the RIPE NCC
 provides special support for new members and beneficial guidance to
 established members.

 Goal: 

 The process of allocating and assigning address space helps to ensure
 a fair distribution of IPv4 addresses. It also supports the efficient
 use of address space to conserve the remaining IPv4 address space and
 to aggregate routing information.

 Approval of IPv4 address space assignments ensures homogeneous
 application of policies and assignment criteria by all RIPE NCC
 members (LIRs) and helps them become familiar with request
 evaluation.

 Assistance to new and established LIRs helps to process successfully
 their address space requests and to provide a good understanding of
 policies and procedures for further requests. This support also
 promotes a good working relationship between the RIPE NCC and its
 members, and ensures that the members are able to provide the same
 support to their customers.

 Related Activities:

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE Local IR WG 

 M1.2 Distribution of IPv6 Address Space 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC allocates IPv6 address space to its members. This
 includes evaluating and auditing of assignments made from IPv6
 allocations. Tools to support the allocation process and to ensure
 the best aggregation possible will be enhanced.

 Goal: 

 This activity helps to ensure a fair distribution of IPv6 address
 space and encourages the use of IPv6. It also supports the
 aggregation of IPv6 routing information.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE Local IR WG, RIPE IPv6 WG 

 M1.3 Autonomous System Number (ASN) Assignments 

 Description 

 The RIPE NCC assigns AS numbers according to global and local
 policies. It registers these numbers and the associated routing
 information. The request form, supporting documentation and training
 materials will be updated.

 Goal:

 This activity ensures uniqueness of AS numbers and helps collecting
 data for the Routing Registry. It also helps to prevent unnecessary
 increases in the number of autonomous systems that are visible in
 global Internet Routing.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE Local IR WG, RIPE Routing WG, RIPE Database WG 

 M1.4 Reverse Delegation 

 Description 

 The RIPE NCC delegates reverse DNS zones for the address ranges
 allocated or assigned via the RIPE NCC. To provide this service, the
 RIPE NCC will provide a reliable secondary nameserver and work to
 avoid pollution of the DNS in the zones delegated to the RIPE NCC.
 Therefore, the RIPE NCC will check all zones under its responsibility
 as to proper set-up and functioning. Proactive checking of already
 delegated zones is an important goal.

 Goal:

 This activity supports the proper address-to-name mapping for
 addresses allocated to the RIPE NCC.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE Local IR WG, RIPE DNS WG 

 M1.5 Consistency and Auditing 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC actively checks the quality and validity of Internet
 resource registry data, including the production of statistics on
 address space usage. To ensure fair address space distribution, the
 RIPE NCC regularly checks that assignments are applied
 uniformly. This activity is separated from the other registration
 activities as it is defined and carried out independently from the
 day-to-day processing of requests. Consistency checking and auditing
 are performed within other activities. Observations are reported back
 to the RIPE Local IR Working Group for further investigations and
 improvement of the procedures.

 Goal:

 This activity promotes a consistent and fair application of
 assignment criteria relating to the conservation of address space and
 aggregation of routing information. This activity assists in
 identifying parts of the procedure that cause problems.

 Related Activities: 

 All registration activities 

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE Local IR WG 

 M2 Initial Support for New LIRs 

 The initial support for newly established LIRs is provided in
 addition to the other registration services. It is embedded as part
 of the process to establish a new LIR. During this phase, additional
 clarification and explanation is involved to familiarise the new and
 potential LIRs with all procedures necessary to operate an Internet
 registry.

 M2.1 LIR Set-up 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC provides information to potential LIRs and gives initial
 support and help to LIRs during their set-up phase. Information and
 support is also extended to potential LIRs.

 Goal: 

 This activity supports new LIRs during their set-up phase to
 introduce tools, procedures and guidelines. It also gives potential
 LIRs enough information to make an informed choice as to whether or
 not they become an LIR.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE Local IR WG 

 M2.2 Training Courses 

 Description:

 The RIPE NCC will further develop and continue to deliver Training
 Courses for LIRs, both new and existing. The course material includes
 IP address assignment and allocation procedures and policies,
 delegation of reverse domains, and usage of the RIPE Database.
 Additional, more specific, courses will also be developed.

 Goal:

 The goal of this activity is to familiarise the new LIRs with
 procedures and policies and keep established LIRs up-to-date with new
 guidelines and developments. This facilitates smooth operations
 between the RIPE NCC and the LIRs. With the consistent application of
 policies the RIPE NCC can ensure fair distribution of address space
 among the community.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE Local IR WG 

 M3 Liaison and Co-ordination 

 Description:

 To carry out activities for its members, the RIPE NCC acts as a
 liaison and co-ordinates with a variety of organisations and tracks
 the activities of others. Examples of such organisations are the
 IANA, ICANN, IETF, RIPE, ARIN, and APNIC. It is often difficult to
 attribute liaison and co-ordination resources to specific activities
 and it is therefore an activity in its own right.

 Goal:

 To maintain the necessary relationship with other organisations
 related to the operations of the RIPE NCC. Budgeting: Costs for this
 activity are split evenly between the registration and co-ordination
 activity budget lines.

 M4 Test Traffic Measurements (TTM) 

 Description: 

 1. Continue to run a network of test-boxes. The RIPE NCC will
 continue to operate a network of test-boxes as well as a service
 where the host sites can retrieve the data produced by their
 text-boxes. To improve the quality of the data and to detect problems
 with the test-boxes, Data Quality Monitoring (DQM) will be done on a
 regular basis.

 2. Expanding the measurement network. 

 The RIPE NCC will continue to promote the TTM service and install
 test-boxes at interested sites. The promotion of the TTM service that
 was started at RIPE 38 will be continued and expanded.

 More focus will be put on communication with current and future
 test-box hosts to better understand their requirements for
 performance measurements and their needs for products based on the
 data.

 Several sites have expressed interest in other versions of the
 test-box hardware and these will be available late 2001 or early
 2002.

 Finally, the RIPE NCC will investigate the possibility to install
 test-boxes at topologically interesting sites on the Internet such as
 exchange points and popular web sites.

 3. Run standard analysis. A standard analysis package will be run on
 the data every day.  This package will continue to be expanded based
 on user feedback.

 At RIPE 33, a method was proposed to detect unusual network
 conditions and warn operators about them. The RIPE NCC will continue
 to offer this service and, together with network operators,
 investigate how these warnings can be interfaced with existing
 network monitoring tools.

 On the latest model test-boxes, a web-based user interface will be installed. This UI will allow
 the owner of the box to access a real-time, though preliminary, analysis of the data collected
 with the test-box. 

 4. Continue development work on the project. Development work on the
 project will continue in several different areas:

      a. Based on the summary data, a model is being developed to
      describe the data over long time intervals and to look for
      trends in the data over time. This can be used as a planning
      tool for ISPs.

      b. Metrics for throughput measurements are currently being
      studied within the framework of the IETF IPPM Working Group. It
      is foreseen that one of these metrics will be implemented on the
      test-boxes.

      c. Other new metrics will be studied and, if feasible,
      implemented on the test-boxes.

      d. Development of interfaces to other applications such as
      Traffic Engineering tools.

      e. Implementation of other requests from current and future
      test-box hosts.

      f. Any developments in the Internet, related to the Test Traffic
      Measurements, will be energetically followed and responded to.

 5. User training. The RIPE NCC will investigate how end-to-end
 performance data can be used in day-to-day ISP operations and provide
 this information to its membership either as courses or white papers.

 RIPE Working Group Advising: 

 RIPE Test Traffic WG 

 M5 Membership - RIPE NCC Interaction Facilities 

 Description:

 The goal of this activity is to develop and improve flexible and
 convenient ways for LIRs and users in general to interact with the
 RIPE NCC's systems. Particular attention will be dedicated to the
 security aspects of such interactions to ensure privacy and
 authentication wherever needed.

 Goal:

 This activity aims at allowing access to the LIRs to securely access
 and eventually update some of the information the RIPE NCC keeps in
 its internal services regarding the LIR. It also includes front ends
 for other RIPE NCC systems such as the RIPE Database. During 2002,
 this activity will concentrate on the development and discussion of
 prototypes that address the user's needs.

 C - Co-ordination Activities

 The activities performed in this area, to be effective, must be
 accessible to the users of the Internet and the general public. Their
 common purpose is to support the coherent operation of the Internet
 in the RIPE NCC area of operation.

 C1 RIPE Database Maintenance and Development

 Description: 

 The RIPE Database is the core software on which the Regional IP
 Registry and the RIPE Routing Registry are based. Reliability and
 rich functionality of the RIPE Database are essential for the RIPE
 NCC, the LIRs in the RIPE NCC service region and the Internet. By
 maintaining public releases, the RIPE NCC hopes to encourage all LIRs
 to make use of the software and to acquire the newest
 improvements. This encourages data exchange and co-operation among
 LIRs.

 The RIPE NCC will ensure the reliability of the RIPE Database and
 extend its functionality as needed.

 This set of activities is designed to provide consistent support and
 provide a reliable service both in the short and long term, and to
 continue developments according to the needs of the RIPE community.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE Database WG 

 C1.1 User Support and Software Maintenance 

 Description:

 The RIPE NCC manages a role mailbox for questions and comments and
 address user questions promptly.

 The RIPE NCC will also perform basic software maintenance activities
 including bug fixes and minor modifications. All the results of these
 software development efforts will be made publicly available.

 This activity includes the maintenance and improvement of the
 system's documentation.

 Goal:

 This activity is intended to provide a timely response to user
 enquiries. It also helps assure the smooth operation of the Registry
 System.

 Related Activity:

 C1.4 

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 RIPE Database WG 

 C1.2 Consistency 

 Description:

 The RIPE NCC works to prevent inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the
 RIPE Database contents by improving syntax checks, modifying contact
 reference mechanisms, and educating users.

 The RIPE NCC helps users perform data maintenance activities to
 improve the quality of data already in the RIPE Database. This
 includes reporting problems to contacts where possible and providing
 tools that enable users to correct and clean up their data. The RIPE
 NCC also produces regular "State of the Database Reports" to monitor
 the quality of data over time.

 Goal:

 The value of the RIPE Database for its users depends on the quality
 of the data. The goal of this activity is to monitor and improve the
 consistency and accuracy of the data maintained in the RIPE Database.

 Related Activity:

 C1.6 

 RIPE Working Group Advising: 

 RIPE Database WG 

 C1.3 Database Availability and Exchange 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC provides access to the RIPE Database via Whois servers
 and by supporting other sites in mirroring the data. For example,
 support is given to other registries in setting up secondary database
 servers. The RIPE NCC actively pursues and co-ordinates data exchange
 both with other Regional IP Registries and other Routing Registries.

 Goal: 

 This activity is intended to enable RIPE Database users to acquire
 the information they need quickly and to help those outside the RIPE
 region acquire information in the RIPE Database as easily as
 possible. This is essential for both the IP and the Routing
 Registries.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 RIPE Database WG and RIPE Routing WG 

 C1.4 New Database Features 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC designs and implements new database features as
 requested by the user community or proposed by the RIPE NCC. It
 performs the development work based on the priorities established in
 the appropriate RIPE working groups.

 The RIPE NCC also reports at these working groups about the results
 of cooperation with other RIRs at a global level.

 During 2002, effort will be renewed around the extension of RPSL
 functionality to expand its capabilities to IPv6 and multicast
 routing description, and achieving implementation of eventual agreed
 standards.

 Goal:

 The purpose of this activity is to provide new functionality to the
 RIPE Database as the user community expresses the need for it.

 Related Activities:

 C1.1 

 RIPE Working Group Advising: 

  

 RIPE Database WG 

 C1.5 Routing Registry Tool Deployment and Training 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC works to create support tools such as RR tools and the
 RAToolset. These tools will be made available to members of the RIPE
 community. The RIPE NCC will deliver training courses to teach the
 RPSL language and the use of the RR tools in configuring routers and
 examining policies and routing in the Internet.

 Goal:

 The RIPE NCC will take on further development of the RAToolset after
 completion of its transition from ISI/USC.

 This toolkit allows router configurations to be generated and/or
 verified from the contents of the routing registry as well as sanity
 checking of the information registered at the RR. The goal of this
 activity is to enable members of the RIPE community to exploit RPSL
 and define the development of new RR tools.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 RIPE Routing WG 

 C1.6 Routing Registry Consistency 

 Description: 

 This activity seeks to improve data quality in the Internet Routing
 Registry as a public source of intended routing information (as
 described by the maintainers of the data, the ISPs). It also aims to
 improve data accessibility and processing capabilities to enable
 users to extract the largest possible benefit from this information
 source.

 Goal:

 The objective of this activity is to provide a public, accurate, and
 reliable source of information about public routing information in
 the RIPE NCC service region, comparing the intended routing policies
 as described in the IRR to the information actually exchanged by
 routing protocols. A coupling to the RIPE NCC address assignment
 activities is also an objective.

 RIPE Working Group Advising: 


 RIPE Routing WG 

 C1.7 Security Mechanisms of the RIPE Database 

 Description: 

 This activity has traditionally been part of general RIPE Database
 development. However, in today's world, a more dedicated focus on
 data access and maintenance is required.

 Goal: 

 This activity seeks to deploy secure methods of accessing and
 maintaining data in the RIPE Database. It will interface with a more
 general increase in awareness of security matters in all interactions
 between the RIPE NCC and other parties.

 Related Activities:

 M5 

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 RIPE Database WG 

  

 C2 Information Services, Communication, and
 Education 

 Description: 

 This set of activities ensures information flow between the RIPE NCC
 and the RIPE community as well as between these and other parties
 involved in Internet developments.

 C2.1 Mailing List Management 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC maintains high quality mailing lists for exchanging
 information among members of the RIPE community. Efforts are made to
 prevent spam (unsolicited advertising) on the mailing lists, to
 improve the quality of the address lists in order to minimise
 bounces, and to support subscribers with problems. The processing of
 mailing list traffic is constantly monitored.

 Goal: 

 To ensure the exchange of information among members of the RIPE
 community and to provide support for subscribers of RIPE mailing
 lists.

 C2.2 Maintenance of Information Services 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC maintains a WWW and ftp server at http://www.ripe.net/
 and ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ respectively and the accompanying
 webmaster@ripe.net role mailbox to provide help and information to
 users. This includes:

      - Continuous modification and restructuring of the information
      on the WWW server providing the best structure for ease of use
      to visitors of the site.  - Monitoring of the content of the
      servers to assure accuracy, consistency, and a user-friendly
      environment.

 Goal: 

 The purpose of this activity is to ensure that the information and
 services on the RIPE NCC servers are up-to-date and working well and
 that responses to user needs are provided in a timely manner.

 Related Activities:

 C2.3

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 All 

 C2.3 Public Relations and Outreach 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC has managed to establish an extensive network in the
 Internet community and with existing and new players in the
 industry. This will continue and be intensified.

 In the past, all issues related to the 'RIPE NCC activities/IP
 address distribution' was brought up in the RIPE community. Today
 there are other groups and forums that deal with Internet and IP
 issues. The RIPE NCC needs to make contact with those organisations
 and ensure that RIPE and the RIPE NCC are properly represented in all
 forums dealing with issues that affect Internet administration. The
 open structures and processes in which RIPE and the RIPE NCC operate
 need to be promoted and new players must be encouraged to participate
 actively.

 Focused effort must remain on new players, new technologies, and
 governments showing an interest in Internet administration and
 governance.

 Goal:

 This activity aims to increase the awareness of RIPE and the RIPE NCC
 with existing and new players in the Internet community, and ensure
 that the RIPE NCC continues to play an effective role in the further
 formalisation of Internet administration.

 C2.4 Reporting 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC reports about its activities to its membership, the RIPE
 community, and the general public both on the network and at RIPE
 Meetings. The RIPE NCC publishes an Annual Report, including
 financial statements, for distribution to its membership, suppliers,
 the mass media, and interested members of the public. The Annual
 Report also serves as a general Public Relations document. Continuous
 efforts are made in developing the website to provide up-to-date and
 informative documentation essential to the RIPE NCC membership.

 Goal:

 This activity provides the RIPE NCC membership and other interested
 parties with open, detailed information about the ongoing RIPE NCC
 activities and its position in the Internet community.

 Related Activities:

 C2.3, C4 

 C3 DNS Co-ordination 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC does not provide domain name registration services. It
 does, however, provide DNS co-ordination and support activities as
 well as registration of reverse address mapping domain registrations,
 currently within the in-addr.arpa and ip6.int domains.

 C3.1 European Root Name Servers 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC supports the operation of the root name servers located
 in the RIPE NCC service region. In particular, it operates the server
 currently located at the LINX in London (k.root-servers.net).

 Goal: 

 Those few DNS name servers serving the "." (root) zone are critical
 elements of the Internet infrastructure that should be operated in a
 neutral and professional way. The goal of this activity is to ensure
 that this happens.

 RIPE Working Group Advising: 

 RIPE DNS WG 

 C3.2 Secondary DNS Service

 Description:

 The RIPE NCC provides secondary name service and limited support to
 those country TLD administrators that wish to use it. The RIPE NCC
 assists ICANN in the administration of those TLDs as described in
 RFC1591.

 Goal: 

 Internet users depend on DNS name servers serving the zones of two-
 letter ISO3166 country code top-level domains. Name service for these
 zones should be reliable. New countries should be supported to
 establish their country code TLDs. Reverse zones are served in a
 secondary capacity to assist in ensuring the reliability of reverse
 lookups.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 RIPE DNS WG

 C3.3 DNS Hostcount 

 Description: 

 The RIPE NCC provides monthly statistics on the number of hosts
 connected to the Internet in the RIPE NCC service region. The
 statistics are gathered in collaboration with numerous organisations
 doing local counts per country.

 Goal: 

 The goal of this activity is to collect and publish uniform time
 series data about the growth of the Internet in the RIPE NCC service
 region. This is a continuation of data collection on Internet growth
 started in October 1990. The information and statistics are used
 extensively by LIRs and organisations operating in the RIPE NCC
 service region and beyond.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:


 RIPE DNS WG

 C4 RIPE Meetings

 Description:

 The RIPE NCC provides administrative and technical support for the
 RIPE Meetings. These RIPE Meetings take place three times a year and
 are open to the public. Actual costs regarding venue, equipment hire,
 etc., are recouped by charging an attendance fee, as well as through
 corporate sponsorship.


 Goal: To provide support for an infrastructure whereby the RIPE
 Meetings can be held. Guidance and advice from the RIPE Working
 Groups and membership is invaluable to the RIPE NCC in supporting its
 effective role in further formalising Internet administration. RIPE
 also plays an influential role in defining the annual activity plan
 and these meetings are therefore essential to the stable operations
 of the RIPE NCC.

 N - New Activities 

 This area represents those activities that are either unforeseen or
 cannot be fully specified at the time of writing. By nature, new
 activities are hard to specify in detail and priorities can change
 quickly. Activities may be dropped or added as necessary. The
 activity descriptions below are therefore more of a subjective
 statement of direction rather than a fixed plan of action. In
 particular, some of the ideas below have not yet been fully discussed
 in the relevant RIPE working groups.

 N1 Routing Information Service (RIS)

 The goal of the Routing Information Service is to collect BGP routing
 information at several major exchange points in near real time, and
 store it in a database. An interface similar to a "looking glass"
 then provides both multiple views and information about specific
 times in the past. This is very useful to ISP operations because
 operators do not have to search for specific "looking glasses"
 covering their area of interest. Additionally, they can query the
 specific time of a problem rather than having access to just the
 present state of routing information. The database is also useful for
 the RIPE NCC itself as it allows Hostmasters to determine how
 prefixes and autonomous systems have been used on the Internet over
 an extended period.

 To collect the information, six so-called Remote Route Collectors
 (RRCs) have been installed in the RIPE area. Early in 2002, two
 additional RRCs will be installed elsewhere in the world. After that,
 the RIPE NCC plans to evaluate the view of the Internet available to
 the RIS and, if necessary, install other RRCs to get a more
 comprehensive picture of BGP routing information. Peering sessions
 will continue to be established with interested ISPs.

 User access to the collected data will be improved by adding
 additional queries to the database. Also, a daily report with graphs
 showing the development of key parameters in BGP routing will be
 added to the RIS.

 Finally, the RIPE NCC will put more effort into communication with
 present and future users of the RIS to better understand their needs
 for new features based on the RIS data. Training materials showing
 how to use the RIS in day-to-day operations will be developed.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 RIPE Routing WG

 N2 Deployment of Internet Security Infrastructure (DISI)

 Description:

 The RIPE NCC will gather information and experience by deploying the
 technologies itself and fostering their deployment in the RIPE
 community through presentations, courses, and workshops. ISPs and,
 specifically, RIPE NCC members have to play a key role in deploying
 these technologies. The RIPE NCC will initially focus on DNSsec and
 co-operate with other organisations working in this area, such as
 NLnet Labs, Nominum, and others. The RIPE NCC also actively
 participates in the IETF Working Groups on this topic.

 Goal:


 In 2001, the project focused on DNSsec. An introduction course to
 DNSsec has been developed. This course shows how to secure a zone
 using DNSsec. It will be offered to the membership at regular
 intervals starting at RIPE 40. The number and location of the courses
 in 2002 will be determined based on user feedback.

 Also, the RIPE NCC will continue its efforts to have in-addr.arpa
 secured for all address blocks allocated to the RIPE NCC by the end
 of 2001. The experience gained will be shared with the community in
 workshops and white papers. Another goal is to take part in creating
 BCP-type RFCs on the deployment of DNSsec. One draft has recently
 been tabled in the agenda of the DNSext Working Group, with more
 expected to follow.

 Developments in the Internet security area are energetically followed
 and the project will be expanded in the course of 2002, based on user
 feedbacks and industry developments.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 RIPE Techsec-WG 

 N3 Unforeseen Activities

 Description:


 The RIPE NCC actively follows the developments in the Internet and
 reacts to any requirements for new activities from the RIPE
 community. In the past, the RIPE NCC has been requested to study and
 start up a fair number of new activities at short notice. Many of
 them have been successful because this possibility has been provided
 for in the activity plans since the inception of the RIPE NCC.

 Goal:


 The goal of this activity is to ensure that the RIPE NCC continues to
 react promptly to the developments and changing needs of the Internet
 environment.

 RIPE Working Group Advising:

 Depending on the activity 











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