APNIC Executive Council Meeting, Monday 28 February 2000

Willow Tree Room, Sheraton Walker Hill Seoul, Korea

Chair:

Attendance:

20:00 Meeting commenced

1. Review of Agenda

The EC made no changes to the proposed agenda.

2. APNIC Annual Report 1999

APNIC's Director-General presented the Annual Report for 1999. The report noted that the growth in (voluntary) Medium Membership category reflected increasing capacity and willingness to support APNIC. The report also highlighted a decrease in expenses due to delays in hiring staff, no payment having been made to ICANN, and general prudence in spending. It was noted that the current high growth rates make it difficult to predict how big the organisation will need to become.

The EC noted that performance standards in servicing membership requests had been maintained while experiencing growth in membership levels and service requests. It was also noted that there were no complaints received and there was positive feedback from members.

Discussion of the report noted the importance to clearly communicate the need to reserve half of income as an operating reserve, rather than reducing fees and reducing reserve levels. It was also noted that the level of operating surplus next year is not expected to be as high.

The EC reviewed the status of the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) as part of the review of the year's activities. It was noted that the very tight time constraints in relation to the selection of initial ASO Address Council (AC) members did require the EC to undertake the selection process. It was noted that the adopted process did allow members to voice their views on the nominations, and the EC's decision was made on the basis of member consensus as reflected in the nominations and statements of support received. It was noted that further review of this process was necessary, with the objective of making the process open and transparent in terms of reflecting the broad consensus of views from interested parties from the Asia Pacific region.

2.1. IPv4

The EC reviewed the allocated/free figures for APNIC-managed address space, as compared to other RIRs. It was noted that the 210/8 space is used more quickly than other ranges because it is used for National Internet Registries.

The EC raised the interaction with ICANN in its role of provider of address allocations to the RIRs. The promptness and consistency of this process was queried and it was noted that this aspect of the relationship between ICANN and the RIRs should be included within the scope of the contracts currently being prepared.

The EC also noted the increasing use of route prefixes in the global address tables, and reiterated the need to continue with an allocation policy that used the benefits of router aggregation available through CIDR techniques.

2.2. AS Numbers

It was reported that APNIC would need to request a further allocation of AS numbers in the near future. Procedural issues associated with recent RIR AS allocations were noted.

2.3. in-addr

The report did not contain detailed figures for population of in-addr reverse translation zone files. It was reported that these can be included in future, if needed. It was estimated that less than 70% of deployed addresses are not reverse mapped. It was proposed that APNIC inform membership of importance of reverse mapping. It was also suggested that APNIC enforce the deletion of the corresponding in-addr records if members leave and do not pay the necessary maintenance fees.

2.4. Training

The EC considered whether there was a need to reconsider the level of financial subsidy provided to the APNIC membership training program as the number of courses increases. It was noted that as the training gets more systematic the accounting of the program would also become more comprehensive.

The EC made no recommendations to change the current training program.

2.5. Operations and Infrastructure

The Director-General reported that automation projects within Technical Services are working very well, and also referenced developmental work being done with the Distributed Systems Technology Centre. The EC stressed that the most important long-term contribution APNIC can make to the Internet is to put in place a certificate system for securing the routing system. It was noted that securing routing is still down the track, but it does raise the need to select the right standard for future compatibility.

It was reported that there is also an immediate problem, as illustrated by recent operational incidents regarding RIR databases.

2.6. Whois and HTTP statistics

It was suggested that there was no further need to publish this information within the APNIC activity reports.

3. FINANCIAL REPORT 1999

The APNIC Business Manager presented the APNIC Financial Report for 1999. It was reported that this is a "consolidated" report because two APNIC company entities still exist. The accounts still show activity in the Seychelles account because of members remaining with that company during 1999 and also because interest was credited to the account. It was reported that the recorded operating loss in 1998 is due to change in accounting policy not an actual financial loss.

The EC queried APNIC's potential liability to ICANN. It was noted that this is to be concluded, with the current suggestion being 15% of the overall 10% share to be contributed by RIRs. With this suggestion it is estimated that APNIC's liability will be less than US$80,000 p.a.

The EC resolved to extend their congratulations to the Director-General and APNIC staff on their outstanding performance in 1999.

4. APNIC WORK PLAN 2000

The Director-General presented the APNIC Work Plan 2000.

4.1. Translation

The work plan proposed a substantial allocation for translation of APNIC documents and online material into members' languages.

The EC considered how to select which languages to use and the need to set objective measures for choosing languages, in interest of fairness.

4.2. Accounting

It was reported that APNIC is conducting a search for new accounting software.

4.3. Routing Registry

It was suggested that APNIC re-assess the case and do a quick survey to gauge member opinion.

4.4. Legacy Address Space

The EC considered the matter of the transfer of legacy registry records from ARIN to APNIC. So far transfers have been done on a case by case basis. Approximately 3,000-4,000 records remain to be transferred.

4.5. Member Meetings

It was proposed that APNIC hold a second meeting annually. APNIC has called for proposals, but none have been received to date. This would be raised at the Member Meeting.

4.6. ICANN Funding

The EC reviewed the progress regarding ICANN funding. This matter will be raised with APNIC's legal advisers.

4.7. AC Election

It was noted that an Address Council position falls vacant in 2000 and an appropriately open process must be determined to select a replacement. The process needs to meet the requirements of the ASO MoU and of the broader community. It was noted that ARIN and RIPE NCC AC member elections are conducted in a totally open meeting, in which anyone present can vote.

4.8. EC Telephone Conferences

The EC discussed the need to meet more regularly and move faster. The EC determined to meet by telephone conference every month.

4.9. Whois coordination

The EC discussed adding RIR Whois coordination to the workplan, as the RIR databases are in great need of improvement. This was agreed to be a priority work item. The discussion on this topic raised the issue of independent work on databases being done at RIPE NCC and ARIN.

5. BUDGET 2000

The APNIC Business Manager presented Budget 2000.

The EC discussed APNIC membership of and contributions to APIA and APNG.

The EC endorsed the budget for presentation to the Member Meeting.

6. OTHER ITEMS

6.1. EC Nomination Issues

The EC considered the potential for conflict of interest if a serving Address Council member was elected to the APNIC EC.

The EC considered the relevant By-Laws of ICANN, the ASO MoU and the EC's powers and duties. It was concluded that there was no impediment for such an election, but that members should be aware of this potential situation prior to the election.

6.2. Former Director General

The EC resolved to officially recognise David Conrad's contributions to APNIC during the Annual Membership Meeting.

Meeting closed at 22:45