[Appeared in Internet Society News, Autumn 1993, Vol. 2, No. 3] A New Regional Network Information Center is Initiated Following the Inet '93 meeting in San Francisco, members of the Asia Pacific networking community met again to discuss regional networking issues. Among the results of this meeting of the Asia Pacific Coordinating Committee for Intercontinental Networking (APCCIRN) was the initiation of the public phase of a pilot project for a new network information center aimed at providing support for the Asia Pacific region's Internetworking activities. The public phase of the Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) pilot project, a continuation of the project which began on January 15, 1993 at the first APCCIRN meeting in Honolulu, officially started on September 1, 1993. The APNIC pilot project, under the direction of Drs. Jun Murai and Masaya Nakayama, has the following goals: - provide a testbed for experimentation into network coordination in the Asia Pacific region - determination of the requirements for a regional NIC and the means to meet those requirements - implementation of a regional IP address allocation strategy in accordance with RFC-1466 - coordination with local, national, and regional NICs - experimentation with tools used to support NIC operations By meeting these goals, the APNIC pilot project should provide information to the APCCIRN which may aid in the establishment of a permanent network information center for the Asia Pacific region. As a means to obtain this information, the public phase of the APNIC pilot project will provide several services to the Asia Pacific networking community, among the most significant of which are Internet Registry services and Routing Registry services. Currently, within the APNIC pilot project, efforts are underway which will solidify the policies and procedures used by the APNIC to allocate IP addresses to members of the Asia Pacific networking community. When these policies and procedures are in place, the InterNIC will delegate a block of addresses to be used to meet the rapidly expanding demand in the region. Another service provided by the APNIC pilot project will be that of a regional routing registry. While routing in the Asia Pacific region is not as complex as that faced in European networking, the routing registry service, in coordination with the RIPE-NCC routing registry project, may help the Asia Pacific networking community be prepared for the time when routing complexity becomes more of an issue in the region. Since even a pilot project requires resources, the APNIC pilot project resources are being generously provided by the Japanese Network Information Center, JPNIC, which has allocated 10% of its 1993 budget for the operation of the APNIC pilot. The personnel requirements for the project are being drawn from several locations in the Asia Pacific region, including Korea, Japan, and New Zealand. Since the Asia Pacific region is so varied, the diversity of the APNIC staff is most welcome and encouraged. Since the APNIC pilot project's ultimate goal is to provide information to the APCCIRN on issues regarding an Asia Pacific network information center, the APNIC pilot project staff will provide the APCCIRN with two reports. The first report will be presented during the winter '93 APCCIRN meeting being held in Taipei, Taiwan, and the second will be issued during the summer APCCIRN meeting. Both of these reports will summarize the operation of the APNIC pilot project and present the lessons learned to that point, focusing on issues relevant to the establishment of a permanent network information center in the Asia Pacific region. After a month of operation, the public phase of the APNIC pilot project is proceeding smoothly. While necessarily limited in scope, the APNIC pilot project may help address many of the challenges facing networking in the Asia Pacific region. Specifically, it is hoped that by providing an arena in which issues relevant to the coordination of Asia Pacific Internetworking can be explored, the APNIC pilot project will provide information and services that will help the APCCIRN and the Asia Pacific networking community establish a permanent networking information center in the Asia Pacific region. For further information regarding the APNIC pilot project, contact the APNIC headquarters at: Asia Pacific Network Information Center c/o University of Tokyo, Computer Center 2-11-16 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113 JAPAN or send electronic mail to info@apnic.net.