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Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE, French for "European IP Networks") is a forum open to all parties with an interest in the technical development of the Internet. The RIPE community’s objective is to ensure that the administrative and technical coordination necessary to maintain and develop the Internet continues. It is not a standardisation organisation like the IETF and does not deal with domain names like ICANN.

RIPE is not a legal entity and has no formal membership. This means that anybody who is interested in the work of RIPE can participate through mailing lists and by attending meetings. RIPE has a chairman to keep an eye on work between RIPE meetings and to be its external liaison. Rob Blokzijl was the spokesperson at the start and later the chairman. The RIPE community interacts via RIPE Mailing Lists,^[1] RIPE Working Groups,^[2] and RIPE Meetings.^[3]

Although similar in name, the RIPE NCC and RIPE are separate entities. The RIPE NCC provides administrative support to RIPE, such as the facilitation of RIPE meetings^[3] and providing administrative support to RIPE Working Groups.^[2] It was established in 1992 by the RIPE community to serve as an administrative body.

History

The first RIPE meeting was held on 22 May 1989 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It brought together 14 representatives of 6 countries and 11 networks^[4] At the time European governments, standardisation bodies and telecommunications companies were pushing for the OSI standard and IP-based networks were seen as the wrong way to go. In the academic community (mostly nuclear and particle physics) there was a strong need to work together with colleagues across Europe and the United States. IP provided a standard to allow interconnection and cooperation, whereas the networks offered by the European telecommunications companies often completely lacked that.

RIPE as an organisation was established by the RIPE terms of reference, which were agreed on 29 November 1989.^[5] There were ten organisations intending to participate in the RIPE Coordinating Committee, along the lines defined by the RIPE Terms of Reference, though some still needed to make a formal decision. These organisations were: BelWue, CERN, EASInet, EUnet, GARR, HEPnet, NORDUnet, SURFnet, SWITCH and XLINK.^[6] At the same time task forces were established to facilitate the interconnection of European IP-networks in the following weeks and months^[7] The four task forces were:

1. Connectivity and Routing
2. Network Management and Operations
3. Domain Name System
4. Formal Coordination

One of the results was a proposal on 16 September 1990 to establish the RIPE Network Coordination Center (NCC) to support the administrative tasks in the RIPE community^[8] and the first RIPE NCC Activity Plan was published in May 1991.^[9]

RIPE asked RARE (one of the predecessors of TERENA) if they would provide the legal framework for the RIPE NCC. After a solicitation procedure, the RIPE NCC began in April 1992 with its headquarters in Amsterdam, Daniel Karrenberg as manager and only two other staff members. Initial funding was provided by the academic networks (RARE members), EARN and EUnet. The RIPE NCC was formally established when the Dutch version of the articles of association was deposited with the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce on 12 November 1997.^[10][who?]

Name

It seems that the name is the result of a translation of the English title of a diagram to French by John Quarterman.^[11] This was presented in Special Session of RIPE 58.^[12]

Documents

A RIPE document^[13] is any document, proposal, procedure or policy that has been proposed and accepted by the RIPE community. All RIPE documents are published online in the RIPE Document Store.^[13]

Policy development

The RIPE community develops and sets policies for the technical coordination of the Internet and the management and distribution of Internet resources (IP addresses and Autonomous System (AS) Numbers) through a long established, open, bottom-up process of discussion and consensus-based decision making. The RIPE Policy Development Process^[14] formally tracks input into and discussion on any policy proposed. The RIPE PDP is transparent and consensus based. Anyone may suggest a new policy or a change to an existing one. Proposals are then discussed and accepted or rejected by the RIPE community according to the RIPE PDP guidelines.

Meetings

RIPE meetings happen twice a year. Usually, one meeting is held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the other somewhere in the RIPE NCC service region.^[15] The meetings are five-day events where Internet Service Providers (ISPs), network operators, government representatives, regulators and other interested parties gather to discuss relevant issues, developments and policies. RIPE Meetings are open to anyone, although registration is required. The meeting always ends with a presentation to the Secret Working Group. The presentation consists of limericks, haikus, etc. referring to what happened at the meeting or in the community. These humorous presentations are available through the RIPE WHOIS database by searching for object type "poem" maintained by LIM-MNT (Link:RIPE Poems). Most famous is the RIPE55-SONG, sung to the melody of "American Pie" by Don McLean. A YouTube video with the title "The Day The Routers Died" is available, uploaded by the RIPE-NCC.

Working groups

The RIPE community has formed a number of RIPE Working Groups^[2] to deal with various issues and topics related to the work of RIPE NCC members and the general Internet community. Each of the RIPE Working Groups has a mailing list where topics or questions related to the working group can be discussed. The RIPE Working Groups^[2] meet twice a year in dedicated sessions at RIPE Meetings.^[3]

Community

The RIPE community refers collectively to any individual or organisation, whether members of the RIPE NCC or not, that has an interest in the way the Internet is managed, structured or governed.

RIPE NCC

See own page on RIPE NCC

The Regional Internet Registry for the Europe/Middle-East region the RIPE Network Coordination Centre or RIPE NCC is a separate entity but shares the offices and facilities of RIPE.

See also

• RIPE NCC
• JANET
• RARE

References

External links

• RIPE NET