Hank while IP networks are quite like tins of beans, they are not exactly so. There is some maintenance involved on the part of the IR after the goods leave the shop. This is small but it is there; one place you'll see it is in the RIPE Quarterly reports, in the tables on allocated networks. Maybe your three-year license would be better than generating small annual bills. Whatever, the scheme should be scalable and that means that all ongoing costs, however insignificant, must be factored in. Cheers. Mike