Hi BCOP people, As I promised on Monday during the BCOP session at RIPE 72 I would prepare a community statement that reflect the wise words that our RIPE Chair, Hand Petter Holen, made at the opening ceremony. I discussed this with Hans Petter because I don't want to take someone else's words without permission. He was ok with using his words as the starting point and form a community statement in BCOP based on that. For reference here is the original transcript taken from https://ripe72.ripe.net/archives/steno/5/:
Now when that is said, it's always also important to realise that with IPv4 space, the legacy old IP addresses, there isn't anything left; we have a small reserve so new members can get a /22, as we call it, around a thousand addresses, so they can start up a business. But this is not things you can build your future on. The only way to survive in the future is to implement v6 from the start, then you can get some v4 addresses so you can boot strap and still be connected to the legacy Internet, but it is possible today to build v6 networks and have transition mechanisms to v4 and that is the only sustainable way going forward.
As my intention is both making a clear statement about the Best Current Operational Practice on using the last remaining IPv4 addresses, and to show confirmation as a community that we stand behind the statement from our RIPE chair I have stayed as close to this original as possible. I have reorganised it a bit to make it easier to read, and I propose that we bring the following text to the floor on Friday: ------------- It is important to realise that there isn't any IPv4 space left; the RIPE NCC has a small reserve so new members can get a /22 so they can start up a business, to bootstrap and to communicate with the legacy Internet. But this is not something anybody can build their future on. The only way to survive in the future is to implement IPv6 from the start. It is possible to build IPv6 networks today and have transition mechanisms to IPv4, and that is the only sustainable way forward. ------------- If this task force agrees on a text I will present it on Friday during the closing plenary and ask the community as a whole to express their support. Please let me know if you think the proposed text is indeed a BCOP and that it represents the words from Hans Petter correctly. Cheers, Sander