APNIC

APNIC is the acronym for the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, which is the Regional Internet Registry for the Asia Pacific region.

Overview

APNIC was founded in 13th of January 1993 and the main headquarters are located in Brisbane, Australia. The main focus of APNIC is the registration and allocation of the IP Address space throughout Asia Pacific region. APNIC is an open,non-for-profit, membership-based, not-for-profit organization providing Internet addressing services to the Asia Pacific. APNIC covers 56 economies all around Oceania and Asia which are further classified in four regions: South, Southeast, Oceania and Central-east.

On a yearly basis, there are two open meetings organized for discussing policies and developing new strategies. In order to educate users to correctly manage, administer and configure the Internet services, APNIC organized courses. The participants at such courses are able to learn about the best practices.

APNIC Members

"Membership shall be open to any person,unincorporated association, firm, corporation Governmental Organisation or Non-Governmental Organisation, engaged in the use of or business of providing open system protocol network services."

The members of APNIC consist of: Internet Service Providers, National Internet Registries, and other such organizations. APNIC exists and works in the interest of is members and stakeholders within the Internet community. Currently, the organization has more than 2000 members within 56 economies throughout Asia Pacific region.

Depending on the IP Address the members are graded into tiers being divided in terms of economy and size. The members can utilize or not Internet number resources, while all members are being allowed to vote in the case of elections for Executive Council. Whether individuals or organizations want to become a member or APNIC, both can apply for membership. However, most APNIC members consist of NIRs (National Internet Registries), NICs (Network Information Centres) and ISPs (Internet Service Providers). Other organizations such as education communities or even domain registries are becoming APNIC members.

APNIC Functions

The main functions of the Asia Pacific Information Centre are as follows:

• The allocation of IPv6 and IPv4 address space as well as ASN (Autonomous System Numbers) throughout the region of Asia Pacific;
• The maintenance of public Whois Database for the region of Asia Pacific;
• The representation of interests for the Internet community throughout the Asia Pacific region;
• Reverse DNS lookup delegations
• The Executive Council of APNIC has the following functions: act on behalf of APNIC members, to develop Internet policies which respond to the changes related to the Internet environment, ensure efficient coordination for APNIC work, etc.

APNIC Structure

According to APNIC Document Identity, APNIC structure consists of:

• APNIC members
• The Executive Council
• The Secretariat
• Possible Sub-committees