From a business perspective, something which seems to be lacking from the responses that I have seen, there has to be someone responsible for the
To put some perspective on my position within UUNET, Stephen Burley frequently actions my requests for address space for new and developing countries within Europe. I have been observing the current discussions on this workgroup with increasing alarm. It is my understanding that RIPE is a function that is necessary for the intelligent control of limited address space, and that the RIPE NCC management team are responsible for the operations that go into allocating this address space. Furthermore, RIPE is made up of numerous business interests and that the RIPE NCC is, in effect, employed by these businesses for the express purpose of handling their IP address requests. Since there are many issues that have been raised (and I have yet to see a constructive response from the RIPE NCC management) I feel it necessary to ask the question.. Who does the RIPE NCC management answer to ? policies of the RIPE NCC management. I would sincerely hope that it is the members of RIPE that the RIPE NCC must answer to, and that the forum for these policies must be this mailing list. If this is the case, then I see little value in the service being offered at the moment, and would like to see some positive emails on what the RIPE NCC can do to help alleviate the problems that we are all seeing. My primary concern is the current turnover of hostmasters that deal with all of our requests. A high turnover of staff is almost always a result of poor management, and unless this is addressed, all other issues become secondary. There are staffing problems in all organisations, from obtaining the services of suitable candidates for the post, to staff retention. If the RIPE NCC are having trouble in this area, then perhaps they should request the help of the members of RIPE, all of whom have many years of experience. I would like to see the RIPE NCC being more open to these discussions, and honest about any problems that they are having. I really do not think it is acceptable to act as though we, as members of the RIPE community, do not have a right to know what is going on within the organisation and to promote a closed door policy as far as information is concerned. After all, who pays the bills ? Accountability for the services offered must be clarified if positive action is to be taken, I would not like to see these issues ignored and swept under the carpet, otherwise we face the prospect of having an organisation that we pay for, doesn't work for us, and implements internal policies that alienates its' staff to the point where they feel that their only option is to leave. This is something that all members of the community must take seriously and take some time to address if we are to effect some improvement in services. Yours sincerely, Gareth Staff. Program Manager, EMEA Operations UUNET (An MCI WorldCom company) gareths@uk.uu.net/gstaff@uu.net