ARIN 54 Day 1 Recap

By Christina Paladeau – Social Media and Content Specialist

Greetings from Toronto, where the ARIN 54 Public Policy and Members Meeting began today. We’re delighted to welcome both new and established community members joining us in person and online for policy discussions, organizational updates, and more. Read on for a rundown of what has happened so far at ARIN 54.

Want to join in the discussions remotely? Register before tomorrow so we can invite you to the Zoom webinar.

Fostering Fellowship

This fall, the ARIN Fellowship Program once again included the opportunity for Fellows to take part in the NANOG conference directly preceding the ARIN meeting. The Fellows attending NANOG 92 had the chance to do some extra preparation for actively participating at ARIN 54 by networking with colleagues, establishing friendships, and learning from the discussions and presentations held Monday through Wednesday.

From left to right: ARIN 54 Fellows Jenna Fung, Dana Cramer, and Kathleen Scoggins with Mentor Alicia Trotman (second from the left) at NANOG 92; ARIN Board Member Nancy Carter and former Board member Patrick Gilmore at the ARIN 54 Welcome Reception (Photo credit: Octavis Jones).

Then, on Wednesday evening, the wider group of ARIN 54 attendees joined in, greeting one another at an on-site Welcome Reception that provided a great opportunity to catch up before the busy meeting agenda began this morning.

Turning Over a New (Maple) Leaf

Thursday morning dawned cool and crisp in perfect fall fashion as we began the first official day of the meeting. Board of Trustees Chair Bill Sandiford started things off with a land acknowledgement before Hollis Kara, Director of Communications, gave the opening announcements, introductions of our Board of Trustees and Advisory Council (AC) and the Number Resource Organization Number Council (NRO NC), and an overview of the meeting agenda. She also offered thanks to our ARIN 54 network sponsor, Rogers; webcast sponsor, Google; platinum sponsor, Kalorama; silver sponsor, IPv4.Global by Hilco Streambank; and exhibitor sponsor IPXO, along with tips for both virtual and in-person attendees to make the most of their meeting experience.

Since ARIN 52, ARIN has been pleased to provide an ombudsperson during its meetings. Hollis reviewed ARIN’s values and Standards of Behavior then invited Mr. Wade Hinton, CEO and Founder of Hinton & Company, to introduce himself and explain his role as the ombudsperson in making the ARIN 54 meeting a safe and comfortable space for all participants.

After words of welcome and strong encouragement to actively participate in the meeting from John Curran, ARIN President and CEO, the meeting’s presentations kicked off. NANOG Executive Director Jonathan Black took the stage first to provide an update on NANOG governance, Program Committee activities, events, community initiatives, and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

Bill Sandiford then presented his Board of Trustees Report in which he discussed ARIN’s financial and fiduciary actions along with a look at recent policy ratifications (three recommended draft policies and one edit, to be exact). Nancy Carter, Board Treasurer, followed up with her always anticipated Financial Report. She went over the main business of the Finance Committee along with updates on ARIN’s financial position, investments, operating results, liquidity and financial assets, operating reserves, and long-term financial plan.

Left to right: Jonathan Black, NANOG Executive Director; Bill Sandiford, ARIN Board of Trustees Chair; Rob Seastrom, ARIN Board of Trustees Risk and Cybersecurity Committee Chair.

Before we dove into all things policy, Board Trustee Rob Seastrom provided an update from the Risk and Cybersecurity Committee (RCC), which he chairs. He explained what the RCC is and what it does, why it exists and why it’s important to ARIN members, and how it tracks and prioritizes risks by using a risk register. The topic generated a number of questions and comments from the community, and both Rob and Hollis offered reminders about the availability of the ARIN Consultation and Suggestion Process (ACSP) as a feedback mechanism for gauging community and member opinion on specific issues. You can submit suggestions using the form on our website.

For Community Consideration

John Sweeting, Chief Experience Officer, gave the Policy Implementation and Experience Report that examined current practice, issues observed, and potential opportunities for changing procedures for: IPv4 Waiting List (4.1.8) and reserved pool requests from multiple Organization Identifiers (Org IDs); reassignments/reallocations from the dedicated IPv4 block to facilitate IPv6 deployment (4.10); and replenishment of the 4.10 and 4.4 (Micro-allocation) reserved pools.

John posed questions to the community about addressing Number Resource Policy Manual sections 4.1.8, 4.10, and 4.4, asking:

• Are the current policies and practices around IPv4 address allocation, waiting lists, and reserved pools aligned with what the community wants? Are additional policy measures needed to prevent or deter specific behaviors, such as the creation of multiple Org IDs to bypass policy requirements?
• Should reassignments or reallocations of 4.10 space to downstream customers/organizations be permitted? If so, should ARIN staff treat reassigned/reallocated 4.10 space as utilized when evaluating compliance with policy requirements?
• Should Section 4.4 (Micro-Allocations) and/or Section 4.10 (IPv6 Deployment) replenishment policies be updated to address evolving IPv4 scarcity? Should they be treated differently in terms of replenishment given the significant difference in pool sizes and usage?

Left to right: Chief Experience Officer John Sweeting presents the Policy Implementation and Experience Report; ARIN 54 participants step up to the mic to respond with their questions and comments.

Community engagement with these topics was high, with John Sweeting and John Curran both responding to questions and comments from in-person and virtual meeting participants. Join the discussion at the meeting or on our Public Policy mailing list (PPML) to let us know what you think.

Policy Discussion, Round One

After an abbreviated stretch and snack break, Kat Hunter, AC Chair, then presented the AC Report and Docket. She introduced who and what the AC is, provided an overview of AC outreach activities and working groups, and summarized the policy activity since our last meeting, proposals received, and the 12 items on the docket for the two policy sessions during ARIN 54. Kat ended with a big thank you to her predecessors in the AC chair position and to AC Vice Chair Matthew Wilder and ARIN Policy Analyst Eddie Diego for helping make her first year as AC chair enjoyable and successful.

With that, the first policy session began, and AC members presented each policy and then opened the floor for community input. The meeting room and virtual chat engaged with the following policy proposals, responding with ample questions, comments, and discussions:

• Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2022-12: Direct Assignment Language Update – presented by Doug Camin
• Draft Policy ARIN-2023-8: Reduce 4.1.8 Maximum Allocation – presented by Gerry George

Adair Thaxton, Internet2, poses a question to AC Member Gerry George and Board Chair Bill Sandiford during the first policy session at ARIN 54.

The enthusiastic and lengthy discussion of these two policy proposals led us right up to lunch time, so the four other ones planned for this session were bumped to the second policy session happening later in the afternoon.

Off to the Races

We broke for lunch to refuel and enjoy some time to chat with colleagues before getting ready to enter the ARIN Elections portion of the program. First, John Sweeting provided an overview of how you can get to know the candidates, who can vote, and how and when to vote, including instructions for using the election system.

Following that, we watched recorded speeches from the candidates who are running for the ARIN Board and AC and the NRO NC this year. You can view those speeches on our YouTube channel.

Voting is now open and closes at 7:00 PM ET next Friday, 1 November. Be sure to cast your vote* and fulfill a vital community responsibility by helping shape the future of ARIN and the Internet as a whole!

Policy Discussion, Round Two

Following a final break to keep the energy up through the end of the day, we rolled into the second policy session. It began with the four policy proposals held over from session one, and 10 more AC members presented policies and invited community input. Once again, both in-person and virtual attendees engaged in lively discussion of these policy proposals:

• Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2024-1: Definition of Organization ID/Org ID – presented by Gus Reese
• Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2024-9: Remove Outdated Carveout for Community Networks – presented by Alison Wood
• Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2023-7: Clarification of NRPM Sections 4.5 and 6.11 Multiple Discrete Networks – presented by Chris Woodfield
• Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2024-2: Whois Data Requirements Policy for Non-Personal Information – presented by Leif Sawyer
• Draft Policy ARIN-2024-6: 6.5.1a Definition Update – presented by Kendrick Knowles
• Draft Policy ARIN-2024-8: Restrict the Largest Initial IPv6 Allocation to /20 – presented by Liz Goodson
• Draft Policy ARIN-2024-10: Registration Requirements and Timing of Requirements With Retirement of Section 4.2.3.7.2 – presented by Alicia Trotman
• Draft Policy ARIN-2024-4: Internet Exchange Point Definition – presented by Brian Jones
• Draft Policy ARIN-2024-5: Rewrite of NRPM Section 4.4 Micro-Allocation – presented by Daniel Schatte
• Draft Policy ARIN-2024-7: Addition of Definitions for General and Special Purpose IP Addresses – presented by Kaitlyn Pellak

Questions, Comments, Quips

Throughout the day, attendees had the opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback at a Registration Services Help Desk and ARIN Elections Help Desk hosted by ARIN staff. And before the meeting wrapped up for the evening, John Curran and Bill Sandiford hosted an open microphone session for community members to pose questions or comments on any topic. Comments and questions hit on topics from the importance of discussing public policy and appreciation from the AC for the community’s participation in that discussion today to encouragement to volunteer, questions about the efficiency of ARIN’s Community Consultation and communications processes, and first-timers’ satisfaction with their experiences at the meeting so far. Hollis Kara then closed with final announcements, another round of thanks for the meeting sponsors, and adjournment.

First-time ARIN meeting attendee Geoff Cost, Merit Network, shares a comment during the open mic session hosted by Bill Sandiford and John Curran.

That’s “Aboat” It

With that, day one of ARIN 54 was in the books. Now we’re off to the ARIN Social tonight where we will network with our fellow meeting attendees at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

If you would like to refer to anything you have seen (or missed) so far, all slides from today have been posted online on our ARIN 54 Meeting Materials page, and, over the next few days, we’ll also add links to the full transcript and webcasts.

We’ll see you back here tomorrow for the second and final day of ARIN 54. Don’t forget to use the #ARIN54 hashtag and tag us @TeamARIN on X and Facebook and @ARIN on LinkedIn when sharing about your meeting experience on social media!

Taking photos or screenshots of your ARIN 54 experience? We’d love to share them with the community! Tag, reply, comment, or message us on social media or email us at [email protected] with images (and photo credit, if needed) that you grant us permission to publish online.

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