American Registry for Internet Numbers

Organization
Type	technical
Region	USA, Canada, and some Caribbean Islands
Country	United States of America
Founded	1997
Website	arin.net

American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is one of the five Regional Internet Registries.

Overview

ARIN is a non-profit corporation which aims to serve number resources to Internet users throughout its region, such as Internet Service Providers, governments, and other end-users. ARIN's service region consists of: Canada, the United States, and other islands located in the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean.

ARIN is part of the Regional Internet Registries (RIR). There are 5 RIRs, including LACNIC, APNIC, AFRINIC and RIPE NCC, and each provides Internet Number Resource Services to the regions each registry is responsible for.

ARIN History

During the 1980s, Jon Postel was responsible for the assignment of IP Addresses. However, as the Internet grew this task, which he had volunteered for, became much more difficult; thus, IANA was created. IANA in association with RIR had as main responsibility the assignment and handling of registration tasks.

In the early 1990's the general Internet community agreed upon the separation between the management of domain names and the management of IP Addresses. This is when ARIN was established to provide IP registration services. ARIN was created as a non-profit corporation and began work on December 22nd, 1997.

ARIN is incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is governed by an Executive Board. The members of the Executive Board are elected by its members.

In November 2011, ARIN began testing out a WhoWas service, whereupon written request ARIN could disclose the historical responsibility of an IP Address or block of addresses.

ARIN Board of Trustees

• Paul Andersen (Chair)
• Nancy Carter (Treasurer)
• John Curran (President & CEO)
• Dan Alexander
• Peter Harrison
• Bill Sandiford (Vice Chair)
• Catherine Middleton
• Stephen M. Ryan (Secretary, General Counsel)

ARIN Services

ARIN ensures technical coordination and management of the Internet number resources via 3 main types of services:

• Registration- related to management and technical coordination;
• Organization- related to the interaction of ARIN and its members and stakeholders;
• Policy Development- related to the development of policies and technical coordination of Internet Number Resources within the ARIN region.

American Registry for Internet Numbers