-------- ] From: Tim Streater <t.c.streater@dante.org.uk> ] Subject: Re: 20402 routing entries (renumbering) ] Date: Sat, 16 Apr 1994 01:01:38 +0000 ] ... ] Now, can you imagine the conversation I might have had if still working ] there and SLAC agrees to exchange its class B (with about 1k out of 64k ] addresses assigned) for some number of class C: ] ] Me: SLAC has to renumber! ] Users: Again? OK Tim - but why? And what's in it for us? ] Me: (explanation of routing overload deleted) ] Users: So you are saying that of the 20k or so addresses in routers, ] SLAC renumbering saves just one entry? ] Me: Err, yes. ] Users: Don't ring us, we'll ring you! ] ] As Marty says, there is (unfortunately) no carrot - and users resent the ] stick. ] ... Tim, I agree that there is no motivation for renumbering. I also agreement that convenient renumbering technology would be very valuable in pursuit of CIDR renumbering. I don't believe that renumbering technology will be sufficient, because (as Marty notes): there's still no carrot. The fact of the matter is that there is going to be a carrot soon... it may not be a very big carrot, but there will be one. At some point or another, the cost of route entry propagation will be identified and some enterprising soul will turn a "problem" into a business opportunity by actually recovering these costs seperately. Yes, it will be messy, and providers will begin handling routing (not traffic) settlements, but if the cost component of routing gets high enough, then it's quite likely to emerge as a separate item. Of course, most folks will be forgiven for entering a single route into the Internet (and it will be absorbed in service costs as it is today), but folks with random collections of network numbers will feel some impact. Will a fortune 500 company be concerned about the extra [wild estimate] $250/month to keep their dozen distinct CIDR entries? Perhaps not, they may even consider it a good investment compared to renumbering when they change providers. Would the local bookstore renumber both their hosts (when changing providers) in order to avoid $20/month? Maybe. Look, if the real cost of a routing entry in the global Internet is low, then people will pay it and not worry about CIDR. If it turns out that it's quite costly to enter a global route, then some people will invest the effort to avoid the cost. No, it's not going to have an impact on most businesses, because the financials will almost work out to paying for the routing service. I also expect that SLAC would pay to have their entry maintained in the situation above. /John