Let's add a little spice to you list...run it up the flag pole etc... but please let's deal with this professionally with out to much flame! My goal is to ensure the network meets the business objective of our company, not simply to debug traffic etc. In order to do this I need redundant connections to multiple ISP's, and a method for delivering delay sensitive traffic in the most efficient way possible. The above implies BGP. I've applied to ARIN for a number block large enough to ensure routablility, and have been rejected. This leaves me with three alternatives, please correct me if you see any another alternatives. First, we can attempt to buy address space which may or may not be transferable, or more likely we acquire a small company, and/or it's assets, one of which just happens to be a large chuck of address space. Second, I can do the time proven technique of lying about how many hosts I have or how many I plan to have, this I find uncomfortable as I think it is dishonest! I'd bet at least one of the readers of this list has exaggerated about how may hosts they have in their network, or how many they planed to have on a template, so don't be to quick to grab for the high moral ground!! Finally, I can appeal ARIN's decision, which I have already requested from IANA, and was told to request an appeal from hostmaster@ARIN.net. I'm still waiting to here something. On appeal I plan to quote RFC2050 which according to the ARIN web site is what they use make allocation descions. Basically I think ARIN procedures only take into account network size, and nothing else. I don't think RFC2050 language is that strict. Please see item '3b' below: "In order for the Internet to scale using existing technologies, use of regional registry services should be limited to the assignment of IP addresses for organizations meeting one or more of the following conditions: a) the organization has no intention of connecting to the Internet-either now or in the future-but it still requires a globally unique IP address. The organization should consider using reserved addresses from 1918. If it is determined this is not possible, they can be issued unique (if not Internet routable) IP addresses. b) the organization is multi-homed with no favored connection. c) the organization's actual requirement for IP space is very large, for example, the network prefix required to cover the request is of length /18 or shorter. All other requesters should contact its ISP for address space or utilize the addresses reserved for non-connected networks described in 1918 until an Internet connection is established. Note that addresses issued directly from the IRs,(non-provider based), are the least likely to be routable across the Internet. " Also, from 3.1 "utilization is a key factor" implying it's not the only factor. " 3.1 Common Registry Requirements Because the number of available IP addresses on the Internet is limited, the utilization rate of address space will be a key factor in network number assignment. " Basically our normal output traffic is about 45mb/s with a peak as high as 67.6Mb/s during Clinton's shinangians, we've been listed as the 16th busiest web site in the world, and I think that ought to count toward getting a routable address space!!! I also wonder if there aren't free speech issues involved if US entities start dropping traffic based on non technical factors? I welcome any suggestions you may have as to how I can archive my goal of obtaining an address block big enough to implement BGP succesfully. Thank You Mark Vickers RealNetworks, Inc. " In order for the Internet to scale using existing technologies, use of regional registry services should be limited to the assignment of IP addresses for organizations meeting one or more of the following conditions: a) the organization has no intention of connecting to the Internet-either now or in the future-but it still requires a globally unique IP address. The organization should consider using reserved addresses from 1918. If it is determined this is not possible, they can be issued unique (if not Internet routable) IP addresses. b) the organization is multi-homed with no favored connection. c) the organization's actual requirement for IP space is very large, for example, the network prefix required to cover the request is of length /18 or shorter.