American Registry for Internet Numbers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Canada, the United States, and some islands in the Caribbean and North Atlantic ocean. Established in December 1997, ARIN is incorporated as a nonprofit in the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA.
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[edit] Services
ARIN provides services related to the technical coordination and management of Internet number resources. The nature of these services is described in ARIN's mission statement:
- Applying the principles of stewardship, ARIN, a nonprofit corporation, allocates Internet Protocol resources; develops consensus-based policies; and facilitates the advancement of the Internet through information and educational outreach.
These services are grouped in three areas: Registration, Organization, and Policy Development.
[edit] Registration Services
Registration Services pertain to the technical coordination and inventory management of Internet number resources. Services include:
- IPv4 address allocation and assignment
- IPv6 address allocation and assignment
- AS number assignment
- Directory services including:
- Registration transaction information (WHOIS)
- Routing information (Internet Routing Registry)
- DNS (Reverse)
[edit] Organization Services
Organization Services pertain to interaction between stakeholders, ARIN members, and ARIN. Services include:
- Elections
- Members meetings
- Information publication and dissemination
- Education and training
[edit] Policy Development Services
Policy Development Services facilitate the development of policy for the technical coordination and management of Internet number resources. Services include:
- Maintaining discussion e-mail lists
- Conducting public policy meetings
- Publishing policy documents
[edit] Organizational Structure
ARIN is comprised of a 7-member Board of Trustees, a 15-member Advisory Council, and a professional staff of 40. The Board of Trustees and Advisory Council are elected by ARIN members for three-year terms.
[edit] Board of Trustees
The ARIN membership elects the Board of Trustees (BoT), which has ultimate responsibility for the business affairs and financial health of ARIN, and manages ARIN's operations in a manner consistent with the guidance received from the Advisory Council and the goals set by the registry's members. The BoT is responsible for determining the disposition of all revenues received to ensure all services are provided in an equitable manner. The BoT ratifies proposals generated from the membership and submitted through the Advisory Council. Executive decisions are carried out following approval by the BoT.
The BoT consists of 7 members:
- John Curran (Chairman)
- Scott Bradner (Secretary)
- Lee Howard (Treasurer)
- Bill Manning
- Bill Woodcock
- Paul Vixie
- Raymond Plzak (President of ARIN)
[edit] Advisory Council
In addition to the BoT, ARIN has an Advisory Council. Adhering to the procedures in the Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process, the Advisory Council forwards consensus-based policy proposals to the BoT for ratification, as well as membership proposals to the Board for formal votes.
The Advisory Council consists of 15 elected members:
- Ron da Silva (Chairman)
- Alec Peterson (Vice-chairman)
- Dan Alexander
- Paul Andersen
- Cathy Aronson
- Marla Azinger
- Leo Bicknell
- Bill Darte
- Mark Kosters
- Matt Pounsett
- Lea Roberts
- Alex Rubenstein
- Robert Seastrom
- Stacy Taylor
- Suzanne Woolf
[edit] History
The organization was formed in December 1997 to "provide IP registration services as an independent, nonprofit corporation." Until this time IP registration in the ARIN region was done by a department within the Network Solutions corporation, which provided the initial staff and computer infrastructure for ARIN.
The first president of ARIN was Kim Hubbard, from 1997 until 2000. The current president of ARIN is Raymond Plzak.
Until late 2002 it served Mexico, Central America, South America and all of the Caribbean. LACNIC now handles parts of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Also, Sub-Saharan Africa was part of its region until recently, when AfriNIC was officially recognized by ICANN as the fifth Regional Internet Registry in April 2005.
[edit] Service Region
The countries in the ARIN service region are:
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Bermuda
- Bouvet Island (Norway)
- Canada
- Cayman Islands (UK)
- Dominica
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe (France)
- Heard and McDonald Islands (Australia)
- Jamaica
- Martinique (France)
- Puerto Rico (U.S.)
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- St. Helena (UK)
- St. Pierre and Miquelon (France)
- United States
- United States Minor Outlying Islands
- British Virgin Islands (UK)
- US Virgin Islands (U.S.)
[edit] Former service region
ARIN covered Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe until AfriNIC was formed.
ARIN covered Argentina, Aruba, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Dutch West Indies, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands (UK), French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela until LACNIC was formed.
