Edvard Tuinder <ed@cistron.net> writes: I think he is misreading the allocation database. The minimum allocation size used to be /19 and will become (or is) /20 to facilitate smaller providers. A /24 will not be allocated.

This is not correct. There are currently no plans to reduce the minimum allocation size from the current /19. To be precise about allocation vs assignment I quote from ripe-159 below. See this document at http://www.ripe.net/docs/ripe-159.html for details. Daniel 2.3. The Internet Registry System The Internet Registry system has been established to achieve the goals stated in Section 2.2. It con- sists of hierarchically organized Internet Reg- istries (IRs). Address space is typically assigned to end users by Local IRs. The address space assigned is taken from that allocated to the Local IR by the Regional IR. End users are those organi- zations operating networks in which the address space is used. ... Local IRs are typically operated by Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Local IRs hold allocations of address space for assignment to end users. Assigned address space is actually used to operate networks, whereas allocated address space is held by IRs for future assignments to end users. To achieve both the conservation and aggregation goals, only IRs can hold allocations of address space. ... 4.1. The Slow Start Mechanism To prevent allocating large blocks of address space that won't be assigned, the RIPE NCC has introduced the concept of a slow start for allocations. The idea is to allocate address space to Local IRs at the rate it will be assigned. The minimum size of an individual address space allocation is /19 (8192 addresses), and the maximum size is /16 (65536 addresses). The size of an allocation to a particu- lar Local IR is based solely on the rate that the IR has assigned previously allocated address space to end users. The slow start mechanism implements a consistent and fair policy for every Local IR with respect to allo- cations. Although the mechanism is similar to the assignment window mechanism described in Section 3.6, the policy it implements is different. The size of further allocations depends exclusively on the assignment rate of the Local IR concerned while the assignment window depends on the proficiency of the registry staff in evaluating requests and pro- cessing assignments. 4.2. First Allocation When a new Local IR starts up, it has no address space allocated to it. The first allocation will be made automatically by the RIPE NCC, generally upon receipt of the first assignment request from the Local IR. Because there is no information about the rate at which a new IR will make address assign- ments, the size of the first allocation is always a /19 (8092 addresses). Remember that the amount of space allocated does not determine the size of assignments a Local IR can make. As discussed at the end of Section 3, a new Local IR must have every assignment approved by the RIPE NCC until its assignment window is increased. 4.3. Further Allocations A Local IR can obtain additional allocations as required. A request should be submitted to the RIPE NCC when the currently allocated address space is nearly used up (about 90 percent), or if a single assignment will require a larger set of addresses than can be satisfied with the allocated address space. To obtain a new allocation, a Local IR should submit a request to the RIPE NCC which includes a complete list of the assignments made from all of their allocations. The RIPE NCC will check this information, compare it with assignments registered in the database and may request further information (such as documentation of some of the assignments) to determine the need for a new allocation. Addi- tional address space will be allocated after the information supplied with the request has been veri- fied, and a new allocation has been deemed neces- sary. Unfortunately, there is a tradeoff between the aggregation and conservation goals in making alloca- tions. To further aggregation, the RIPE NCC aims to allocate contiguous address ranges to a Local IR. However, because conservation of address space must also be taken into account, this is not always pos- sible. A new allocation to a registry can therefore not be expected to be contiguous with past alloca- tions. While the RIPE NCC always aims to further the aggregation goal, and therefore to allocate contigu- ous space, the RIPE policy is that under no circum- stances are multiple allocations made to the same Local IR guaranteed to be contiguous and aggregat- able with previous allocations.