IPV4 as a Commodity for Profit

Sat Feb 23 05:54:30 UTC 2008

Thus spake "Tom Vest" <tvest at eyeconomics.com>
>> I agree, to a point.  My prediction is that when the handful of
>> mega-ISPs are unable to get the massive quantities of IPv4  addresses
>> they need (a few dozen account for 90% of all
>> consumption in the ARIN region)...
>
> I keep reading assertions like this. Is there any public,  authoritative
> evidence to support this claim?

Rechecking my own post to PPML, 73 Xtra Large orgs held 79.28% of ARIN's 
address space as of May 07; my apology for a faulty memory, but it's not off 
by enough to invalidate the point.

The statistics came from ARIN Member Services in response to an email
inquiry.  I don't believe they publish such things anywhere (other than 
what's in WHOIS), but you can verify yourself if you wish; they were quite 
willing to
give me any stats I asked for if they had the necessary data available.

> If there is, is this 90% figure a new development, or rather the  product
> of changes in ownership (e.g., MCI-VZ-UU, SBC-ATT, etc.),  changes in
> behavior (a run on the bank), some combination of the two,  or something
> else altogether?

Most of the orgs in the Xtra Large class were already there before the
mega-mergers started; after all, you only need >/14 to be Xtra Large.  Given
how most tend to operate in silos, they might still be separate orgs as far
as ARIN is concerned...

S

Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking 