[Appeared in NSF Network News, March/April, 1994, Vol 1, No. 1]

       A Network Information Center for the Asia Pacific Region

By the time you read this article, a new regional network information
center will have accepted the delegation of the 202.0.0.0 and
203.0.0.0 IP address blocks for assignment to networks in the Asia
Pacific region.  This new regional network information center, known
as the Asia Pacific Network Information Center or APNIC, is still in a
pilot project phase, but has already provided significant benefits to
the Asia Pacific internetworking community.

The APNIC pilot project's public phase, a new phase of the original
APNIC project which began on January 15, 1993 at the first APCCIRN
meeting in Honolulu, officially opened its electronic doors on
September 1, 1993.  Since that date, the APNIC pilot project has
enlisted the aid of networking and information specialists from Japan,
Korea, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, and the US and has implemented
a series of initiatives aimed at improving informational and general
networking infrastructure within the Asia and Pacific rim regions.

These initiatives, driven by specific needs within the Asia and
Pacific rim region but having general application to the rest of the
Internet include:

	- CIDRized allocation of network addresses.
	- Creation of a national NIC naming convention, namely
	  xxNIC.NET where xx is the ISO country code for the country
	  in question (e.g. AUNIC.NET for Australia, etc).
	- Creation of a common contact point at the national NICs,
	  namely 'hostmaster@xxnic.net', for general information.
	- Modification of software, documents, and forms supplied by
	  the European regional registry RIPE-NCC to address Asia
	  Pacific needs.
	- Establishment of a file archive and gopher server for the
	  Asia Pacific region
	- Establishment of a Asia Pacific Internet Registry and
	  associated databases.

In addition, and perhaps more significantly, the APNIC pilot project
has established a general plan for its organization.  The APNIC, when
it becomes permanently established in July, 1994, will actually
consist of a group of semi-independent organizations operating
cooperatively.  This model, similar to the way the InterNIC operates
in the US, will be implemented by having specific NIC functions
delegated to national NICs around the Asia Pacific region.  For
example, the APNIC's Internet registry functions such as allocating IP
network numbers and associated services is planned to be operated via
the Japanese national Network Information Center JPNIC, the
informational services portion of APNIC is planned to be operated by
the Korean national Network Information Center, KRNIC, etc.  The
definition of all the appropriate APNIC facilities and who will run
those facilities is currently under discussion within the APNIC pilot
project staff and will be presented at the termination of the APNIC's
pilot project phase in July.

This model of operation also provides a means of avoiding the sticky
problem of funding.  In the US, the InterNIC is funded in part by the
the US government.  In Europe, the RIPE-NCC derives its funding from
IP service providers, but has the assurance of funding from RARE in
the event funding shortfalls.  Within the Asia Pacific region, no
single funding agency exists, so the APNIC pilot project staff has
been searching for a viable and stable funding source.  Since national
NICs will be providing APNIC functionality in conjunction with their
own services, it is believed that the funding issue becomes much less
difficult.

Thus, the APNIC pilot project has progressed in its ultimate goal of
providing information to the APCCIRN on issues relating to the
operation of an Asia Pacific network information center.  This
information is being summarized and presented to the APCCIRN in the
form of two reports: a midterm report which has already been issued
and a final report which will be presented to the APCCIRN at the
termination of the pilot project.  These documents, like all documents
produced by the APNIC pilot project staff are freely available over
the Internet from the APNIC file server, fs.apnic.net.

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.