Dear Colleagues, [apologies for duplicates] Please find attached a list of new RIPE NCC activities scheduled for 2005 and activities that represent a significant change in resource allotment from 2004. We provide this list as a follow-up to my presentations in the RIPE NCC Services Working Group and at the RIPE NCC General Meeting, in May of this year. By no means is this intended as a representation of the full 2005 Activity Plan or precise associated cost. Instead, this early in the process it is meant primarily to foster discussion and feedback from you to us and the Executive Board to aid our planning and production of the final Activity Plan, Budget and Charging Scheme documents. We envisage a comment period of about four weeks, after which we will commence production of the draft Activity Plan and Budget documents that we will publish in good time prior to the RIPE NCC General Meeting in September (we are aiming for a publication date at the end of August). Based on discussions at the RIPE NCC Services Working Group, the General Meeting, and the respective mailing lists, the Executive Board will formally approve the final Activity Plan and Budget 2005 documents in Q3'2004. According to the revised Articles of Association the members will be formally asked to approve the Charging Scheme 2005 at the General Meeting in September. This document will be published four weeks in advance of the GM according to the formal requirements. I hope personally that the coming weeks will show a further increase in membership involvement in the production of these documents, setting the course for our work over the next year. Regards, Axel Pawlik PS As I am currently on family holidays, my participation in the discussion might be sparse for the next 10 days. ==== New Activities for 2005 For each of the new activities listed below a description is provided as well as an assessment of its financial impact on resources. The following ranges are used to show the financial impact and relative weight of the proposed new activities. Fractional 0 - 50 kEUR Small 50 - 100 kEUR Moderate 100 - 200 kEUR Significant 200 - 400 kEUR Substantial > 400 kEUR 1) RIPE NCC Member Service Desk Feedback received from RIPE NCC Members has revealed a need to consolidate the communication channels members can use to contact the RIPE NCC. To achieve this, the RIPE NCC will create the RIPE NCC Member Service Desk, a convenient single point of contact that will be available through direct email and phone contact. Email will remain the primary means of communication. The aim of the RIPE NCC Member Service Desk is to improve the ease and efficiency with which members can interact with the RIPE NCC. The desk will cover Internet number resource requests and related issues involving RIPE NCC Hostmaster, RIPE Database and RIPE NCC billing queries. This will be in addition to the regular service requests handled by the RIPE NCC Hostmasters and RIPE DBM. The possibility of contacting the RIPE NCC Member Service Desk by both PSTN and IP(VOIP) will be investigated and prepared. Dependent on feedback from RIPE NCC Members, the scope of the RIPE NCC Member Service Desk may be expanded in the long term. Financial Impact: Significant (200 - 400 kEUR) 2) Further Deployment of Mirror Instances of the K-root Nameserver The RIPE NCC will continue to deploy mirror instances of the K-root nameserver. This will further improve the distribution, redundancy and performance of this crucial service as well as its resilience against Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. In 2005 the RIPE NCC will continue deployment of local nodes in the RIPE NCC service region, which will be done on a cost recovery basis. The RIPE NCC will also deploy several (2-3) global nodes in North America and Asia-Pacific. Most of the costs of global node deployment will be covered by the RIPE NCC. Financial Impact: Significant (200 - 400 kEUR) 3) Improving Data Integrity In 2005 the RIPE NCC will focus efforts on improving the accuracy, integrity and consistency of data related to Internet number resources. Mechanisms will be established to ensure higher quality data in the long term, decreasing discrepancies and incorrect contact details and thus increasing the speed at which requests and disputes can be resolved. The improved integrity of data will benefit the Internet community by increasing the reliability of using registration data in the daily operations of LIRs and ISPs. Financial Impact: Moderate (100 - 200 kEUR) 4) Developing New Training Methods To adapt the training offered by the RIPE NCC to the differing needs of the audience, new training methods will be developed, particularly focusing on online training. The intention is to reach a broader audience, particularly those who are unable to attend RIPE NCC training courses due to geographical, financial, scheduling or other constraints. Offering more accessible training will help members to send better-prepared requests to the RIPE NCC Hostmasters. This aims to ensure a more timely completion of allocation requests. In addition, the RIPE NCC will develop new forms of training to specifically target non-traditional audiences such as journalists, politicians and administrators. This is a logical progression of the RIPE NCC's outreach efforts developed over previous years. The aim is to encourage well-informed decisions and to win continued support for the existing RIR framework. Financial Impact: Small (50 - 100 kEUR) 5) Membership Survey The RIPE NCC will commission an independent member and stakeholder survey, similar to the survey conducted by KPMG in 2002. Based on the results of this survey and in close interaction with the members and stakeholders, the RIPE NCC will continue to improve its operational quality and organisational structure. Financial Impact: Small (50 - 100 kEUR) 6) Cross Registry Information Service Protocol (CRISP) Responding to requests from the community for a standard, uniform global view of Internet Number Resources, the RIPE NCC will continue to participate in the IETF process to develop the Cross Registry Information Service Protocol. In 2005, the RIPE NCC will provide server implementation and client tools, while co-ordinating with other server operators, client tool authors, and service providers to encourage use. Financial Impact: Small (50 - 100 kEUR) 7) Deployment of Anti-SPAM Measures and SPAM Abuse Policies The RIPE NCC will deploy technical facilities to minimise the effect of SPAM and SPAM abuse towards the RIPE NCC and the mailing lists it provides for members and the RIPE community. Financial Impact: Fractional (0 - 50 kEUR) --- end