ARIN: What Is It and What Does It Do?

ARIN is the regional Internet register for the United States, Canada, and numerous Caribbean and North Atlantic islands. ARIN manages the distribution of IPv4 and IPv6 address space, as well as AS numbers, the first day of ARIN’s operation was December 22, 1997, after becoming a corporation on April 18, 1997.

ARIN, which is a non-profit organization has its headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia, in the United States.

ARIN, which is one of the world’s five regional Internet registers provides assistance with the technical management and coordination of Internet number resources. ARIN also facilitates its members’ and stakeholders’ policy development that takes part in the global Internet community. ARIN is run by an executive board that is chosen by ARIN’s members.

ARIN offers services such as, management and technical coordination of Internet number resources.

ARIN allocates Internet Protocol resources, creates consensus-based regulations, and promotes the development of the Internet through information and educational outreach while adhering to the stewardship tenets.

Services for registering.

The technical management and inventory management of Internet number resources are the focus of registration services. Services offered are:

– Allocation and assignment of IPv4 addresses

– Allocation and assignment of IPv6 addresses

– Assigning an AS number

– services for directories include:

– Information about a registration transaction (WHOIS)

– Information on routing (Internet routing registry)

Organization services

Interaction between stakeholders, ARIN members, and ARIN; is the focus of organization services. Services offered are:

– Members’ meetings and elections

– Publication and distribution of information

– Services for policy formulation in education and training

– Services for policy creation make it easier to create regulations for the technical administration and coordination of Internet number resources.

ARIN’s structure

A professional staff of roughly 50 people, a 7-member board of trustees, a 15-member advisory council, and the Internet community in its region make up ARIN. ARIN members elect the board of trustees and advisory council for three-year periods.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees (BoT), which has ultimate responsibility for the commercial affairs and financial health of ARIN, is chosen by the ARIN membership. The BoT oversees ARIN’s activities in accordance with advice from the Advisory Council and objectives established by the registry’s members. To guarantee that all services are given fairly, the BoT is in charge of deciding how to allocate any money collected. The BoT approves recommendations made by the membership and presented.

Advisory Council, through Executive decisions are implemented after receiving BoT approval. The Board of Trustees is made up of 7 people, including the president and CEO, the chairman, the treasurer, and others.

Advisory Council

In addition to the BoT, ARIN maintains an advisory council that provides guidance to both organizations on issues pertaining to IP address allocation policy. The advisory council submits consensus-based policy recommendations to the BoT for approval while adhering to the processes of the Internet Resource Policy Assessment Process. The advisory council is made up of 15 elected members, including the chair and vice chair.

ARIN’s History

In order to “offer IP registration services as an independent, nonprofit business,” the organization of ARIN was established in December 1997. Up until now, Network Solutions Corporation carried performed IP address registration as part of the InterNIC project in compliance with the rules established by the IETF (inside the RIPE and APNIC zones).

In order to “give the users of IP numbers (mostly Internet service providers, corporations, and other large institutions) a voice in the policies by which they are managed and allocated within the North American region,” the National Science Foundation approved the plan for the establishment of the not–profit organization ARIN. Network Solutions Corporation transferred these duties, initial personnel, and computer infrastructure to ARIN as part of the transition.

Scott Bradner, John Curran, Kim Hubbard, Don Telage, Randy Bush, Raymundo Vega Aguilar, and Jon Postel (IANA) served as ex-office members of the first board of trustees.

ARIN provided services to Mexico, Central America, South America, and the entire Caribbean up until late 2002. Parts of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America are now handled by LACNIC. Moreover, Sub-Saharan Africa was a part of ARIN until AFRINIC was recognized by ICANN as the fifth regional Internet registry in April 2005.

The pool of ARIN IPv4 addresses has been declared exhausted as of September 24, 2015.

References:

– ARIN.net

– nro.net

– ARIN and the RIR System: Mission, Role and Services