RIPE NCC

Type:	Independent, Non-Profit
Headquarters:	Singel 258 1016 AB Amsterdam
Country:	Netherlands
Employees:	116 (2009)
Website:	ripe.net
Key People
Axel Pawlik, Managing Director Paul Rendek, Head of External Relations & Communications Daniel Karrenberg, Chief Scientist Andrew de la Haye, Chief Operations Officer Jochem de Ruig, Chief Financial Officer

The Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) is the RIR for Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Central Asia. The main focus of RIPE NCC is fostering the Internet's technical development for the region it represents. It does this specifically by providing Internet resource allocations, registration services and coordinating activities for the region.

The organization's most important tasks include:

• Distribution and registration of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and Autonomous System (AS) Numbers
• Operating the RIPE Database
• Operating the K-root server cluster, one of the world’s 13 root name servers
• Coordinating the RIPE community

RIPE NCC is not to be confused with RIPE, a related but independent collaborative forum.

History

RIPE NCC was established on September 16th, 1990, to deal with administrative tasks for RIPE, although it was not formally established and recognized until 1992. RIPE NCC did not become a separate legal entity until 1998. Although the two organizations are legally independent today, they remain highly interdependent. RIPE NCC supports RIPE by facilitating RIPE meetings and providing support for RIPE working groups. RIPE NCC maintains the RIPE database, a public database containing registration details of the IP addresses and AS numbers originally allocated to members by the RIPE NCC.

In November 2011, RIPE NCC received a temporary order from Dutch police that prevented any changes from being made to a registration of four specific blocks of IPv4 address space in the RIPE Registry. The injunction was ordered the 8th of November and was in effect through March 22, 2012. In return, the organization intended to settle the matter further in Dutch court. It did not withdraw, remove, or reclaim the address blocks but temporary locked registration for them. In January 2012, the locks were removed under RIPE's opinion that legal grounding to execute the order was insufficient.

On September 14, 2012, RIPE NCC distributed the last blocks of IPv4 address space that it had available. As a result RIPE is now distributing IPv4 address space to Local Internet Registries (LIRs) from the last /8 according to section 5.6 of "IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region”.

RIPE NCC Structure

RIPE NCC is made up of its members, an Executive Board, and its staff, led by a management team.

Membership

Organizations and individuals must become members of their regional RIR in order to request large amounts of IP addresses and AS Numbers, or when they plan to assign them to End Users or customers. Those who wish to request a small amount of IP addresses and AS numbers for personal use may do so via their Request of Independent Resources process. Most of the organization's members are ISPs and telecommunications organizations, but other members include corporations, academic institutions and government bodies. At the end of 2009, RIPE NCC has 6,583 members in 76 countries.

RIPE NCC membership is not required to attend RIPE meetings, to take part in the RIPE Policy Development Process (PDP), or use some RIPE NCC Services. Membership is required, however, to request IPv4 and IPv6 address space, AS Numbers and related services, to attend the RIPE NCC General Meetings, to provide feedback on the RIPE NCC Activity Plan, to accept the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme or Financial Report, and to vote candidates onto the RIPE NCC Executive Board. Member benefits include the ability to attend RIPE NCC Training Courses, the use of an LIR Portal account to manage registry data and make Internet number requests, and the receipt of two free tickets to RIPE Meetings.

There is a sign-up fee for joining RIPE NCC, after which members must pay an annual fee dependent on their size.

The Executive Board

The executive board, which consists of five people, is elected by the members of RIPE NCC. Their duties are to represent the membership and provide guidance to RIPE NCC's senior management team, approve the RIPE NCC's Activity Plan and Budget, appoint the RIPE NCC management, and call General Meetings. They are responsible for the overall financial position of the organization, and are to keep up-to-date records of RIPE NCC's financial situation. The Executive Board delegates all operational decisions relating to the Standard Service Agreements to the management staff.

RIPE NCC staff chain of command.

The current Executive Board members are:

• Nigel Titley, Chairman (May 2010 - May 2013)
• Remco van Mook, Treasurer (May 2010 - May 2013)
• Christian Kaufmann, Secretary (May 2011 - May 2014)
• Dmitry Burkov, ICANN Liaison (May 2012 - May 2015)
• Fahad AlShirawi, Member (May 2011 - May 2014)

Members of the Executive Board serve a 3-year term.

Staff

The duties of the staff overall are to:

1. Perform the operations and facilitate the services of RIPE NCC.
2. Provide administrative support for RIPE and RIPE NCC members.
3. Cooperate with the other four RIRs and industry partners like ISOC and ICANN.
4. Implement policies proposed and accepted by RIPE.

The management staff are made up of the Managing Director, the Head of External Relations and Communications, the Chief Operations Officer, the Chief Technical Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, and the Chief Scientist. The Managing director works closely with HR and the Senior Management Assistants, and oversees each of the other members of the management staff. The Head of External Relations and Communications oversees the External Relations and Outreach and Communications and Web Services departments. The Chief Operations Officer oversees Registration Services, Customer Services, Business Applications, Training Services, and the Policy Development Office. The Chief Technical Officer supervises the Information Security Officer, IT Services, the RIPE database, Information Services, DNS Services, and the Senior Project Manager. RIPE NCC currently has no CTO, and the COO, Andrew de la Haye, has taken over the supervision of software development. The Chief Financial Officer oversees the Finance department and the Front Office. The Chief Scientist oversees the Science Group, which deals with research, Internet measurements, data collection and analysis. The current CS, Daniel Karrenberg, also advises the Managing Director and the Senior Management team, particularly on new activities and matters of strategy.

Services

In addition to assigning IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and AS Numbers, RICE NCC provides the following services to its members:

Database Services:

• Development, operation and maintenance of the RIPE Database
• Operation of a Routing Registry

Technical Services:

• Operation of K-root, one of 13 root name server clusters
• rDNS delegations
• Technical administration of Tier-0 ENUM

Community Support and Outreach:

• Administrative support for RIPE
• Maintenance and development of RIPE community mailing lists
• Facilitation of RIPE Meetings
• Facilitation of RIPE NCC Regional Meetings
• Roundtable Meetings for governments, regulators and law enforcement agencies
• Public representation the RIPE NCC, its members and the RIPE community
• Support for the Middle East Network Operators Group’s (MENOG) activities

Training:

• Provision of RIPE NCC Training Courses for members and stakeholders
• Provision of an E-Learning Centre freely available to members and non-members

Information Services:

• NetSense
• Test Traffic Measurement Service
• DNS Monitoring
• Routing Information Service
• Hostcount++

External Links

• Countries Served by Ripe NCC

Policy Development Process