American Registry for Internet Numbers

The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Canada, the United States, and many island nations in the Caribbean and North Atlantic ocean. ARIN manages the distribution of Internet number resources, including IPv4 and IPv6 address space and AS numbers. ARIN opened its doors for business on 22 December 1997 [ [http://www.arin.net/about_us/history.html About ARIN] ] after incorporating on 18 April 1997 [ [http://www.arin.net/about_us/corp_docs/artic_incorp.html Articles of Incorporation ] ] . ARIN is a nonprofit corporation in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state.

ARIN is one of five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) in the world. Like the other RIRs, ARIN:

*Provides services related to the technical coordination and management of Internet number resources
*Facilitates policy development by its members and stakeholders
*Participates in the international Internet community
*Is a nonprofit, community-based organization
*Is governed by an executive board elected by its membership

Services

ARIN provides services related to the technical coordination and management of Internet number resources. The nature of these services is described in ARIN's mission statement:

:"Applying the principles of stewardship, ARIN, a nonprofit corporation, allocates Internet Protocol resources; develops consensus-based policies; and facilitates the advancement of the Internet through information and educational outreach."

These services are grouped in three areas: Registration, Organization, and Policy Development.

Registration Services

Registration Services pertain to the technical coordination and inventory management of Internet number resources. Services include:

* IPv4 address allocation and assignment
* IPv6 address allocation and assignment
* AS number assignment
* Directory services including:
** Registration transaction information (WHOIS)
** Routing information (Internet Routing Registry)
* DNS (Reverse)

For information on requesting Internet number resources from ARIN, see http://www.arin.net/registration. This section includes the request templates, specific distribution policies, and guidelines for requesting and managing Internet number resources.

Organization Services

Organization Services pertain to interaction between stakeholders, ARIN members, and ARIN. Services include:

* Elections
* Members meetings
* Information publication and dissemination
* Education and training

Policy Development Services

Policy Development Services facilitate the development of policy for the technical coordination and management of Internet number resources.

All ARIN policies are set by the community. Everyone is encouraged to participate in the policy development process at public policy meetings and on the Public Policy Mailing List ([e-mail]). The ARIN Board of Trustees ratifies policies only after:

# discussion on mailing lists and at meetings;
# ARIN Advisory Council recommendation;
# community consensus in favor of the policy; and
# full legal and fiscal review.

The community develops policies by following the Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process, or IRPEP (http://www.arin.net/policy/irpep.html). The Number Resource Policy Manual, ARIN’s complete set of current policies, is available at http://www.arin.net/policy/nrpm.html.

Membership is not required to participate in ARIN’s policy development process or to apply for Internet number resources.

Services include:

* Maintaining discussion e-mail lists
* Conducting public policy meetings
* Publishing policy documents

Organizational Structure

ARIN consists of the Internet community within its region, its members, a 7-member Board of Trustees, a 15-member Advisory Council, and a professional staff of under 50. The Board of Trustees and Advisory Council are elected by ARIN members for three-year terms.

Board of Trustees

The ARIN membership elects the Board of Trustees (BoT), which has ultimate responsibility for the business affairs and financial health of ARIN, and manages ARIN's operations in a manner consistent with the guidance received from the Advisory Council and the goals set by the registry's members. The BoT is responsible for determining the disposition of all revenues received to ensure all services are provided in an equitable manner. The BoT ratifies proposals generated from the membership and submitted through the Advisory Council. Executive decisions are carried out following approval by the BoT.

The BoT consists of 7 members:
* John Curran (Chairman)
* Scott Bradner (Secretary)
* Lee Howard (Treasurer)
* Bill Manning
* Bill Woodcock
* Paul Vixie
* Raymond Plzak (President and CEO)

Advisory Council

In addition to the BoT, ARIN has an Advisory Council that advises ARIN and the BoT on IP allocation policy and related matters. Adhering to the procedures in the Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process, the Advisory Council forwards consensus-based policy proposals to the BoT for ratification.

The Advisory Council consists of 15 elected members:

* Dan Alexander
* Paul Andersen
* Cathy Aronson
* Marla Azinger
* Leo Bicknell (Chair)
* Bill Darte
* Owen DeLong
* Scott Leibrand
* Alec Peterson
* Matt Pounsett
* Lea Roberts
* Robert Seastrom
* Heather Schiller
* Stacy Taylor
* Suzanne Woolf

History

The organization was formed in December 1997 to "provide IP registration services as an independent, nonprofit corporation." Until this time IP registration in the ARIN region was done by a department within the Network Solutions corporation, which provided the initial staff and computer infrastructure for ARIN.

The first president of ARIN was Kim Hubbard, from 1997 until 2000. The current president of ARIN is Raymond Plzak.

Until late 2002 it served Mexico, Central America, South America and all of the Caribbean. LACNIC now handles parts of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Also, Sub-Saharan Africa was part of its region until recently, when AfriNIC was officially recognized by ICANN as the fifth Regional Internet Registry in April 2005.

ervice Region

The countries in the ARIN service region are:

* Anguilla
* Antarctica
* Antigua and Barbuda
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Bermuda
* Bouvet Island (Norway)
* Canada
* Cayman Islands (UK)
* Dominica
* Grenada
* Guadeloupe (France)
* Heard and McDonald Islands (Australia)
* Jamaica
* Martinique (France)
* Montserrat
* Puerto Rico (U.S.)
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Lucia
* Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
* St. Helena (UK)
* St. Pierre and Miquelon (France)
* Turks and Caicos Islands
* United States
* United States Minor Outlying Islands
* British Virgin Islands (UK)
* U.S. Virgin Islands (U.S.)

Former service region

ARIN covered Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe until AfriNIC was formed.

ARIN covered Argentina, Aruba, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Dutch West Indies, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands (UK), French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela until LACNIC was formed.

References

External links

* [http://www.arin.net/ ARIN Home Page]
* [http://www.arin.net/about_us/ac.html ARIN Advisory Council]
* [http://www.arin.net/about_us/bot.html ARIN Board of Trustees]