Thus spake "Tom Vest" <tvest@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