------------------------------------------------------------------- APNIC Document identity Title: Asia Pacific Network Information Center Organizational Details Short title: apnic-org-details Document ref: APNIC-012 Version: 001 Date of original publication: 16 February 1995 Date of this version: 16 February 1995 Review scheduled: n/a Obsoletes: n/a Status: Historical Comments: n/a -------------------------------------------------------------------- APNIC-012.0 D. Conrad Informational Document February 1995 Asia Pacific Network Information Center Organizational Details Issued: February 16, 1995 Expires: Not Applicable 1.0 Introduction The Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) has, as its primary goal, the establishment of a robust Internet in the Asia and Pacific Rim regions to facilitate communication, business, and culture using Internet technologies. In promotion of this goal, APNIC provides infrastructure support by the allocation of Internet resources such as globally unique Internet addresses, autonoumous system numbes, domain names, etc. as well as providing informational resources regarding the various countries in the region. This document describes specifics of APNIC's organizational structure and is presented as a series of ques- tions with answers. 2.0 Who runs APNIC? APNIC is a distributed organization with functions spread out over the Asia and Pacific Rim regions. There are two classes of functions which APNIC performs, registration functions such as the allocation of Internet resources (IP addresses, autonomous system numbers, DNS ser- vices, etc) and information functions such as answering AP region Inter- net related questions, operation of informational archives, etc. These two functions are operated disjointly, although general coordination for these functions is provided by a coordinative committee. APNIC's IP and autonomous number registration services are operated in Japan by a volunteer from a Japanese commercial service provider. The facilities the volunteer uses have been loaned by several organiza- tions such as NTT, Internet Initiative Japan, Inc., and a Japanese net- work research project, WIDE. APNIC's DNS services are being provided on a voluntary basis by the Australian national network information center as operated by the Aus- tralian Academic and Research Network (AARNET). The DNS services are provided using AARNET's facilities and personnel on a time available basis. The World Wide Web services operated by APNIC are provided using facilities and personnel donated by the Korean national network D. Conrad [Page 1] APNIC-012.0 February, 1995 information center operated by the Korean National Computerization Agency. APNIC's file archive service is provided using the facilities of the Japanese national network information center which is operated by a consortium of Japanese network service providers. Personnel to operate the archive service is provided by a Japanese commercial service pro- vider, Internet Initiative Japan, Inc. APNIC's gopher service, a file browsing facility, is provided by the Taiwanese provisional national network information center operated by the Taiwanese ministry of education in conjunction with a consortium of other ministries, commercial organizations, and network service pro- viders in Taiwan. Finally, APNIC's services are coordinated by a committee which is composed of a consortium of established and provisional national network information centers, Internet service providers, and individuals interested in the operation of a AP region network information center. Currently, APNIC's consultative committee consists of 43 individuals in 15 countries or territories. The breakdown of the locations of indivi- duals involved in APNIC's consultative committee is: Australia: 2 Japan: 5 Korea: 4 Thailand: 6 New Zealand: 2 China: 5 Taiwan: 1 Singapore: 6 Malaysia: 2 Philippines: 2 US (Hawaii): 1 Guam: 2 Hong Kong: 2 Indonesia: 2 Day-to-day operation of APNIC is headed by the individual involved in operating the IP and autonomous system number registration services with the help of the members of the APNIC consultative committee. 2.1 Where does APNIC derive its authority? In October of 1992, the Internet Engineering and Planning Group (IEPG) released an RFC (RFC 1366) which described the partitioning of the IP address space to better support the rapidly growing Internet. Of those partitions, one was set aside for the Asia and Pacific Rim D. Conrad [Page 2] APNIC-012.0 February, 1995 regions. APNIC was orginially established as a pilot project under the Asia Pacific Coordinating Committee for Intercontinental Research Net- works (APCCIRN) and the Asia Pacific Engineering and Planning Group (APEPG) to administer the address space set aside by RFC 1366. The APCCIRN/APEPG, later renamed to the Asia Pacific Networking Group (APNG), was orginally established in Jan, 1992 to help coordinate research and education networks in conjunction with similar groups in North America and Europe. Thus, at that time, APNIC could be said to have derived authority from the APCCIRN/APEPG (APNG). However, after the termination of the APNIC pilot project, APNIC continued as an interrim project (primarily due to the lack of a stable funding source). Unfortunately, the APNG, being an informal group with no legal authority or claim to represent the entire AP region could not provide APNIC with a legal umbrella in the event of legal action regard- ing APNIC's operation. As such, it was felt by the members of the APNIC consultative committee that APNIC's authority should be derived from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the overall owner of all IP infrastructure resources. While the IANA could not provide any finan- cial authority, the IANA is recognized as the root of the Internet address allocation tree, thus the policies defined by the IANA could provide a minimum of legal support. 2.2 How is APNIC regulated? APNIC, being under the IANA is required to adhere to the policies defined by the IANA, the Internet Architecture Board, and the Internet Society. Hierarchically, the chain of authority for all Internet regis- tries can be described as follows: Asia Pacific Registry (APNIC) / Internet Society -- IAB -- IANA - European Registry (RIPE-NCC) \ North American Registry (InterNIC) All policies under which APNIC operate are either created or approved by the IANA or the IAB. These policies, in turn, are derived from operational requirements of Internet service providers or through rough consensus in the IETF. At any time, the IANA can overturn a deci- sion by APNIC (or any of the registries) as provided for in RFC 1366 and its successor RFC 1466. 2.3 What are APNIC's policies like? With respect to registration services, APNIC's policies are con- strained by two competing requirements. The first requirement is to promote the growth of the Internet by allocating IP address space and D. Conrad [Page 3] APNIC-012.0 February, 1995 autonomous system numbers as necesary with a minimum of overhead. The other requirement is to insure the Internet continues to function. This requirement implies registries must allocate an absolute minimum of address space (in order to prolong the life of the finite address space resource) and to allocate the address space in such a way as to allow for the Internet to scale well as it grows. To fulfill these require- ments, APNIC (as well as the other registries), are preferentially allo- cating Internet resources to service providers. With respect to informational services, APNIC official policies are that it must remain neutral and fair to all organizations and communi- ties in the AP region. This fairness and neutrality requirement implies it must treat all service providers and nations as equals. 2.4 What are APNIC's financial and legal policies regarding funding agencies? Since APNIC does not exist as a legal entity, it cannot receive funding directly. However, as indicated in the hierarchy chart above, APNIC is in some sense a "child" of the Internet Society. As such, APNIC has made an agreement with the Internet Society such that funds intended for APNIC can be donated to "Internet Society (APNIC)". This arrangement has the dual benefit of avoiding much of the overhead and politics associated with becoming an incorporated legal entity as well as providing a much more extensive legal umbrella. With respect to financial policies, APNIC, being an organization which must provide services for the entire Asia and Pacific Rim Internet communities, must above all remain completely fair and neutral. APNIC will therefore refuse to accept donations from an organization which expects preferrential treatment due to the funding provided. 2.5 How is APNIC registered in Japan? Since APNIC is a distrbuted organization and it must maintain neu- trality with respect to all nations within the Asia and Pacific Rim regions, APNIC does not exist as a legal entity within Japan. The Internet Society is in the process of establishing an Asia Pacific Regional office which will act as a liaison for ISOC national chapters as they become established. The regional office will also serve as the headquarters of APNIC. 2.6 Who is APNIC accountable to? APNIC is operated for the benefit of the Asia and Pacific Rim Internet community. In essence, APNIC is thus accountable to that com- munity. More specifically, APNIC is responsible to national NICs, Internet service providers, and Internet users in the AP region. If at D. Conrad [Page 4] APNIC-012.0 February, 1995 any time, the AP Internet community feels APNIC is not operating in the best interests of the community, they are free to contact the IANA and have the authority by which APNIC operates revoked. 3.0 Future Directions At the first APNIC meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, it was resolved that APNIC should continue to operate. However, it was also resolved that APNIC requires sufficient funding in which to operate such that it would no longer function on voluntary services alone. The consensus of the first APNIC meeting was to attempt to derive sufficient funding to operate APNIC via the collection of donations from organizations and communities interested in seeing APNIC continue. Failure to derive suf- ficient funding would mean APNIC would need to impose a nominal service fee or fees to recover its operational costs. In order to gauge the financial viability of APNIC, it was established that APNIC's finanical situation would be reviewed at each bi-annual APNIC meeting. If insuf- ficient funds were available at a meeting, APNIC would institute a charging based cost recovery scheme. 4.0 Conclusion In essence, APNIC is a consortium of organizations which are work- ing together to provide an environment in which the Internet can grow. Primary requirements of this environment are neutrality and fairness, which APNIC fulfills by treating all entities as equal. In the past, APNIC operated via a purely voluntary basis. At the first APNIC meeting, it was resolved that in order for APNIC to con- tinue, it should obtain sufficient funding to cover its operating expenses. Regardless of how APNIC's funding is to be obtained, the Internet community within the AP region has determined APNIC is benefi- cial to the growth of the network and thus should continue. D. Conrad [Page 5]