Hi, Decisions are based on both science and superstition. In my opinion requests to connect to "two independent ISPs" result mostly from superstition. BGP routing is not particularly good at servicing resilient links. If an access link to ISP fails it takes some time before routing reconfigures, we don't like route flaps do we?. In my opinion OSPF + 2 access links to 2 POPs of single ISP would do the you much better. I wonder why virtually nobody offers such a service? From my perspective an entity running LIR is responsible for both IP addressing and IP traffic shaping. An entity may wish to become a LIR for number of business reasons. RIR should not verify validity of those reasons, however RIR should verify if to-be LIR understand what he applies for. This may mean technical consultancy for free, but since RIPE is a non-profit organization raised membership fees have to be spent anyway ;-) Regards, Jacek