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RIPE NCC

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The Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia. It is headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.[1]

An RIR oversees the allocation and registration of Internet number resources (IPv4 addresses, IPv6 addresses and Autonomous System (AS) Numbers) in a specific region.

The RIPE NCC supports the technical and administrative coordination of the infrastructure of the Internet. It is a not-for-profit membership organisation with over 6,000 (as of January 2009) members located in over 70 countries in its service region.

Any individual or organisation can become a member of the RIPE NCC. The membership consists mainly of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecommunication organisations, educational institutions, governments, regulators and large corporations.

The RIPE NCC also provides technical and administrative support to Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE), a forum open to all parties with an interest in the technical development of the Internet.

Services similar to RIPE is provided by ARIN (North America), LACNIC (South America), AFRINIC (Africa) and APNIC (Asia Pacific).

History

The RIPE NCC began its operations in April 1992 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Initial funding was provided by the academic networks Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne (RARE) members, EARN and EUnet. The RIPE NCC was formally established when the Dutch version of the Articles of Association was deposited with the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce on 12 November 1997 [1]. The first RIPE NCC Activity Plan was published in May 1991.

Activities

The RIPE NCC supports the development of the Internet through technical coordination of the Internet infrastructure in its service region and beyond. It undertakes many activities in this area, including:

  • Allocation and registration of Internet number resources (IP Addresses and AS Numbers)
  • Development, operation and maintenance of the RIPE Database
  • Development, operation and maintenance of the RIPE Routing Registry
  • Operation of K-root, one of the world’s root nameservers
  • Coordination support for ENUM delegations
  • Collection and publication of neutral statistics on Internet development and performance

Structure

The RIPE NCC is governed by Dutch law.

Organisational

The RIPE NCC consists of:

  • Members
    • Members can directly influence the RIPE NCC’s activities and services. Members are responsible for nominating and electing candidates to the RIPE NCC Executive Board and for accepting the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme and approving the RIPE NCC Financial Report each year. Members also give input to, and feedback on, the activities carried out and the services provided by the RIPE NCC.
  • Executive Board
    • RIPE NCC members nominate and elect the Executive Board. The Board consists of between three and five members and is responsible for appointing the RIPE NCC's Managing Director, for the overall financial situation of the RIPE NCC and for keeping records that allow the financial situation of the organisation to be evaluated at any time.
  • RIPE NCC Staff
    • Staff members perform the activities of the RIPE NCC, provide services to its members and provide administrative support to RIPE.

The RIPE NCC and RIPE

Réseaux IP Européens is a forum open to all parties with an interest in the technical development of the Internet. Although similar in name, RIPE and the RIPE NCC are separate entities. However, they are highly interdependent. The RIPE NCC provides administrative support to RIPE, such as the facilitation of RIPE Meetings and giving administrative support to RIPE Working Groups.

Fees

Internet number resources do not have any monetary value. The RIPE NCC charges members an annual membership fee based on the Internet resources that the member receives from the RIPE NCC. The annual membership fee charged to each member is proportionally related to the workload involved in providing the resources requested by that member.

Databases

The RIPE Database

The RIPE Database is a public database containing registration details of the IP addresses and AS Numbers originally allocated to members by the RIPE NCC. It shows which organisations or individuals currently hold which Internet number resources, when the allocations were made and contact details. The organisations or individuals that hold these resources are responsible for updating information in the database.

As of March 2008, the database contents are available for near real-time mirroring (NRTM).[2]

RIPE Routing Registry

The RIPE Routing Registry (RR) is a sub-set of the RIPE Database and holds routing information in RPSL. The RIPE RR is a part of the Internet RR, a collection of databases that mirror each other. Information about domain names in the RIPE Database is for reference only: it is not the domain name registry that is run by the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) administrators of Europe and surrounding areas.

Service regions

The RIPE NCC service region consists of countries in Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia. RIPE NCC services are available to users outside this region through Local Internet Registries; these entities must have a valid legal address inside the service region but can offer their services to anyone (List of Member Countries).

Asia

Europe

North America[4]

Former service regions

Prior to the formation of AfriNIC, RIPE NCC served the following countries: [5]

Asia

Africa

ICANN assigns blocks of Internet resources (IP Resources and AS Numbers) to the RIPE NCC and the other RIRs.
The Number Resource Organization (NRO) is made up of the five RIRs: AfriNIC, APNIC, ARIN, LACNIC and the RIPE NCC. The NRO carries out the joint activities of the RIRs including joint technical projects, liaison activities and policy coordination.
The NRO also performs the function of the ASO, one of the supporting organisations called for by the ICANN bylaws. The ASO reviews and develops recommendations on Internet Policy relating to the system of IP addressing and advises the ICANN Board on these matters.
As part of the NRO, the RIPE NCC was actively involved in the WSIS.
As part of the NRO, the RIPE NCC is actively involved in the IGF.

References

  1. ^ "Contact Information." RIPE NCC. Retrieved on 10 February 2009.
  2. ^ http://www.ripe.net/db/mirrored.html ripe database mirroring
  3. ^ "LIRs in the Middle East," RIPE NCC
  4. ^ "The RIPE NCC Service Region," Ripe NNC
  5. ^ "LIRs in Africa" as of March 4, 2003, RIPE NCC
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