Daniel, My warm thanks to you, and "the two others". You may have a reason for not naming them, so I don't either, but all three of you remain in my warm respect. Indidentally, this conincides almost to the date with the beginning of my networking career, and I remember watching this happening at the time. Interesting times lie ahead. Adaptions have been made during these 30 years, and will continue to have to be made as we walk into the future, but I'm sure the RIPE NCC is well equipped to deal with that, given its excellent staff and support. I'll toast to you, "the other two", and the entire RIPE NCC tonight! Cheers, /Liman #---------------------------------------------------------------------- # Lars-Johan Liman, M.Sc. ! E-mail: liman@netnod.se # Senior Systems Specialist ! Tel: +46 8 - 562 860 12 # Netnod AB, Stockholm ! http://www.netnod.se/ #---------------------------------------------------------------------- dfk@ripe.net 2022-04-02 12:42 [+0200]:
Dear RIPE colleagues and fellow RIPE NCC staff,
30 years ago today the RIPE NCC, the first of the RIRs, opened its virtual doors. Yes it was on April 2nd and not a day earlier as is often wrongly reported. This is a fact! I was there. The term 'post-factual' was just being invented.
An NCC had already been proposed two years earlier: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-019 . Our purpose, our relationship with RIPE and many of our tasks today are already expressed clearly in that proposal. The very first RIPE NCC Activity Plan was ready a year before the start: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-035 . It took a year to collect the initial funds, a host organisation and office space.
Some friends suggested strongly that I should lead the set-up of the RIPE NCC. I got the job and signed up for one year, fully expecting to return to an academic career in computer science. The rest is, as the saying goes, history.
By the way, the history of the RIPE NCC is well documented in quarterly and annual reports and other RIPE documents: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs . We started with three people and five computers. I have described the first hours from a geeky perspective five years ago: https://labs.ripe.net/author/dfk/25-years-of-the-ripe-ncc-the-first-hours/ . At the same time we published a short summary of the history with a photograph of the staff in 1996: https://www.ripe.net/publications/news/about-ripe-ncc-and-ripe/celebrating-2... .
Together we have come a long way. I am proud of all of you, past and present, who have made the RIPE NCC a success. I am proud of the strong community we have built and nourished. Recently we have mastered the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and we are coping with conflict and terrible wars in our region. I am confident that with our combined efforts both RIPE and the RIPE NCC will thrive for a long time to come.
Thank you all, past and present staff, past and present board members, the RIPE community, the membership and all other supporters!
Daniel