ARIN VII Members Meeting - San FrancisCo, California - 4 April 2001 [Archived]

San Francisco, California - 4 April 2001

Minutes of the Members Meeting - April 4

Ray Plzak called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. All members of the ARIN Board of Trustees were present, as well as the following members of the ARIN Advisory Council: Alec Peterson, Bill Darte, Mark Kosters, Bill Manning, Kevin Martin, Ron Roberts, Barbara Roseman, John Sweeting, and Cathy Wittbrodt. The agenda was reviewed.

Board of Trustees Report

Chairman John Curran stated that ARIN is well on its way to being self-sustaining. He spoke of how the Board has evolved, making changes to include the president as a voting member, and recently deciding to add another member to make an odd number of members to aid in voting. The Board provides contract oversight to ARIN staff in producing solicitation documents such as Requests for Proposals and Requests for Quotations, defining criteria for vendor selection, and ensuring that any resulting contracts are properly drafted. The Board does not involve itself in vendor selection. Two current examples of this process are the reverse DNS contract and ARIN’s upcoming office relocation.

ARIN’s relationship with ICANN is moving forward. The RIRs have come to a consensus on a draft contract that is currently at ICANN for review. ARIN has set aside its portion of the RIR contribution to the ICANN budget in an escrow account. These funds will be released to ICANN once a contract is signed.

ARIN has become a platinum member of the ISOC, and through its membership supports the RFC editor function.

ARIN AC Report

Chairman Alec Peterson reported that two issues were considered during a February 15, 2001, teleconference and at the AC meeting held the previous evening: Virtual webhosting and the IAB/IESG IPv6 reassignment recommendation. The AC will be making its recommendations and posting them to the mailing lists (ppml@arin.net, vwp@arin.net, and v6wg@arin.net). After a 10-day Last Call period of comment, the AC will meet and make its recommendations to the Board.

The topic of increasing the list of candidate microallocations will not be acted upon at this time, as it is not considered critical to helping the routing table issue. The AC will continue to monitor AS Numbers to see if the rate of growth accelerates.

Bill Darte encouraged people to run for the AC.

Financial Report

Presentation: | | PDF Treasurer Michael Straty recognized Bob Stratton, ARIN’s Director of Business & Administration, for his efforts. He presented the statements of financial activity and financial position, and explained: - The portion of the RIR contribution to the ICANN budget which is in an escrow account is listed among both ARIN’s liabilities and assets until the funds are dispersed. - Assets that had been donated at ARIN’s start-up are now written off the books. - ARIN maintains a reserve as protection against unforeseen events to ensure ARIN’s financial viability and uninterrupted operation. The Board is working on an investment plan to protect these funds.

• One-time expenses for new equipment and office relocation are anticipated this year. ARIN is changing its fiscal year to coincide with the calendar year and will thus have a 6-month fiscal year for 2001 to balance the change.

Announcement At this point, Ray recognized Stuart Lynn, ICANN president. Stuart encouraged everyone to bring issues to his attention.

ARIN’s Fee Structure **Presentation: | |

PDF**

John Curran provided an overview of ARIN’s financial status explaining that the registry has reached its goal of accumulating a cash reserve of operating funds. This means that the portion of the budgeted revenue that was previously designated to build a reserve is now available for other uses. Possible uses for these funds could include:

• Raising the cap for number of members attending meetings at no cost.
• Fixing RWHOIS. (A majority of those present were in support, no one was opposed).
• Increase outreach activities.
• Provide support to NANOG.

The audience made the following comments:

• Axel Pawlik - look at adding more benefits for staff.
• A majority of those in attendance agreed ARIN staff does a good job and something should be done to ensure that ARIN positions are competitive.
• Enhance the effort to collect and provide statistical data. (15 were in favor, no one was opposed.)
• Increase outreach in north/central South America and sub-Sahara Africa. John Curran asserted that there is significant cost associated with international outreach, and asked for a show of hands in support of increasing outreach internationally: a relative majority was in favor, no one was opposed.

John Curran then asked if ARIN should reduce its fees. Comments:

• It was noted that services should be expanded first before considering any reduction in fees.
• The current model allows small organizations to get started, and large ones to help fund ARIN’s operations.
• Reduce overall fee structure.
• Reduce fees more for smaller organizations since their resources are limited.
• Maintain the current fee for small organizations, to separate those that should go to an upstream and those that really need the space.
• Reduce fees for medium-sized entities.
• Don’t increase ARIN’s services (expenses) too dramatically at first, in the event that ARIN is not able to provide the same level of support in future years.
• Reduce the small fee to $1,200 or $1,500, and extra-large to $10,000.
• Increase the number of fee categories/sizes.
• Reduce renewal fees.
• Give a rebate for returned AS Numbers.
• Make AS number registrants members of ARIN and collect annual registration/subscription fees.
• Reduce the fee for AS Numbers; however, this may increase the number of AS Numbers, contributing to their depletion.
• Conduct a financial study to consolidate the four size categories into three, combining small and medium into one.
• Separate small from microallocations as categories.
• Provide grants for initial meeting participation.

John noted that any change could involve many variables, but advised that a nonprofit’s revenue cannot exceed its expenses in the long term. The percentage of revenue by category size was presented. A majority was in favor, with no opposition, of increasing the services that ARIN provides before reducing fees.

Scott Bradner suggested that lowering the fee might lower constraints such that there would be no social restriction to getting IP addresses, encouraging their overuse. ARIN should be prudent in keeping the fees higher than for cost recovery to keep address use in restraint. ARIN will consider a model that bundles membership with AS Number registrations to encourage participation through automatic membership.

John Curran stated that ARIN will first look at a model for increasing services, then look at the fee structure, and report back to the members.

Open Microphone

No comments were offered.

Conclusion

Ray concluded the meeting with a few announcements and an invitation to attend the ASO General Assembly to be held that afternoon. He also encouraged participation in the election to fill Ken Fockler’s seat on the ICANN Board. Candidates will be presenting their qualifications during the ASO General Assembly. Their resumes are posted on the ASO website, http://www.aso.icann.org/board/comf_board_members.html , and all are encouraged to send in statements of support at the site.

Special thanks were given to the meeting’s sponsor, Global Crossing, and especially Susan Jee for all her hard work. Thanks also went to NetVmg and Juniper for supporting the Monday evening social event. Ray thanked all members and nonmembers who participated in the events. He then thanked the ARIN staff for their support.

Lastly, the early bird prize-winner drawing was held: The digital camera went to Bill Leibzon of BizNet Communications, and the hand-held scanner went to Deb Moll from Sprint.

Ray encouraged organizations interested in sponsoring an ARIN meeting to contact Member Services at memsvcs@arin.net. Cathy Wittbrodt encouraged all to attend the ASO meeting in the afternoon. Ray adjourned the meeting at 10:40 a.m.

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