Commodity (was RE: [Fwd: Kremen ...])

Wed Sep 13 08:37:09 UTC 2006

> > Since IP addresses are tightly tied to the network
> > architecture, how can they ever be liquid?
> 
> How are PI addresses tightly tied to network architecture?

What percentage of the total IPv4 address
space is PI? If non-PI addresses are not
property then how do PI addresses gain that
attribute?

--Michael Dillon

P.S. PI addresses get configured into devices just
the same as non-PI addresses. If you could sell a PI
block then you would be faced with the prospect of
renumbering all those devices. DHCP makes end-user
devices pretty easy, but devices in the NETWORK
ARCHITECTURE pose more of a problem. In addition there
are some people who use IP addresses encoded in 
hardware in a non-mutable fashion. Those people will
apply for PI allocations which, on average, makes
PI addresses more tied to the hardware than non-PI.

But the important points are not the ones mentioned
in this postscript.