AFRINIC

Type:	Non-Government, Non-Profit
Industry:	Registry
Founded:	2000-2004
Headquarters:	11th Floor Raffles Tower Cybercity Ebene, Mauritius
Employees:	>50
Website:	Afrinic.net
Twitter:	[http://twitter.com/afrinic @[1]]
Key People
Adiel Akplogan, CEO Viv Padayatchy, Chair Mark J. Elkins, Board Member John Walubengo, Board Member Didier Kasole, Board Member Ndeye Maimouna Diop Diagne, Board Member Nezar N. Sami, Board Member

AfriNIC is the acronym used for African Network Information Center, which is the Regional Internet Registry of Africa.

Overview

All the information concerning African registered resources and domain names can be found within the AfriNIC Whois database; all this information and the AfriNIC database is available to the public for transparency purposes, but it is under copyright.

The Creation of AfriNIC

AfriNIC was recognized by ICANN as a functioning regional registry and information center in 2004. Before the creation of AfriNIC all IP Addresses were managed by APNIC, ARIN, and RIPE NCC. The African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) is a non-governmental and not-for-profit membership based organization. Its main role is to serve as the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for the African region.

AfriNIC's mission is: "To provide professional and efficient distribution of Internet number resources to the African Internet community, to support Internet technology usage and development across the continent and strengthen Internet self-governance in Africa by encouraging a participative policy development."

Membership is open to anybody following the registration process. Its policy development process is open to anybody without any specific requirements.

ICANN, IANA and AfriNIC

ICANN recognized the provisions of AfriNIC in 2004, and the registry began operating in April, 2005, when it received the first allocation of numbering resources, IP Addresses and Autonomous System Numbers for Africa. Its accreditation made it the 5th RIR, joining ARIN, APNIC, RIPE NCC, and LACNIC. IANA, through an agreement with ICANN, allocates blocks of number resources to all five RIRs, which enables effective communication between networks and Internet traffic all around the world.

IANA has allocated the following IPv4 blocks to AfriNIC: 41/8, 102/8, 105/8 and 197/8; and the following IPv6 blocks: 2001:4200::/23, 2C00:0000::/12.

The 102/8 block which was allocated by IANA on February 3rd of 2011 is the last IPv4 block that will ever be allocated to the registry.

Developments

AfriNIC established its procedures for allocating IPv6 address space in a 2004 document.

They have also implemented an IPv6 "test lab" which can be reserved by AfriNIC members who wish to gain first-hand experience with the new system.

AfriNIC has been known to collaborate with AfNOG in setting dates and places for their annual meetings in order to facilitate convenient meetings for their joint members.

Partnership with UniForum SA

In June, 2012, it was announced that UniForum SA and AfriNIC began a partnership to support training and policy discussions within Africa's tech community. AfriNIC provides training on topics such as cybersecurity, IPv4 exhaustion, IPv6 deployment, Internet Protocol and mobility, policy and IP address allocation, and Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC). UniForum SA will sponsor four AfriNIC meetings, where public and private sector officials can discuss Internet growth and accessibility policy issues, and the deployment of technologies such as cybersecurity and IPv6, as they affect the African continent.

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority