Thom Stark--What are your hours of operation?

Hubbard--7am to 7pm EST.

Thom Stark--Can I contact InterNIC by telephone?

Hubbard--We receive thousands of calls a month. Unfortunately, many of the callers want to give us information over the phone that we simply have to have in writing, so many times their effort is wasted. Really, the most efficient way to contact us is via email.

Thom Stark--There's a perception that end users can't directly request IP network numbers..that the InterNIC requires them to apply through their Internet service providers.

Hubbard--When the routing tables get overloaded, the Internet breaks, so we strongly encourage end users to get their IP address assignments from Internet service providers. IP numbers aren't "owned" by anybody, so if someone does demand to get a number directly from us, we will assign it. We're just hoping that everybody will be good Internet citizens.

Thom Stark--Can you walk us through the IP Network Number application form?

Hubbard--There are nine questions on the end user form. Question 1 asks for information about the sponsoring organization--which means the Internet service provider.

Thom Stark--Question 2 is about the technical point of contact in the end user's organization?

Hubbard--Yes.

Thom Stark--Question 3, about the network name--is that the same as the domain name?

Hubbard--No. The network name and the domain name are completely different. It's really just a name for our database to coordinate with the network number. It can be anything, as long as it's unique.

Thom Stark--Question 4 pertains to the end user organization?

Hubbard--Correct.

Thom Stark--Question 5 is only relevant to Defense Department requests. Question 6, which asks for an estimate of the number of hosts and subnets anticipated both immediately and one, two and five years out seems like it would be the hardest to answer.

Hubbard--That's how we determine what size allocation the organization needs to receive. We're really wondering about the immediate and one-to-two-year requirements. We don't pay much attention to the five-year number. If there isn't enough information, we'll go back to the organization and ask specific questions.

Thom Stark--Question 7 states that, if a single Class C address is not sufficient, you're required to submit "substantial, detailed justification" for your request.

Hubbard--If you're just requesting two or three Class C addresses, you won't need to present a whole lot of justification. But, for those requesting 32, 64 and above Class C numbers, just listing numbers (in their answers to question 6--ed) isn't enough.

Thom Stark--So, what are you looking for in the way of justification?

Hubbard--We'll ask for the number of hosts per subnet. We'll ask for deployment schedules and, in some cases, we'll ask for copies of the network diagram.

Thom Stark--Question 8 is self-explantory. Question 9 is, "What is the purpose of this network?" What does that mean?

Hubbard--It's not really that important. That's an old form and a replacement for it has just been submitted to IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) for approval.

Thom Stark--What's your typical turnaround time for an IP network assignment?

Hubbard--We try to respond to all requests with an address or with additional questions within three days. If the information that comes back, once reviewed, is approved, then they should have their addresses within that same three day window.

Thom Stark--And from service providers?

Hubbard--We assign large CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) blocks to service providers to reassign to their customers so that the routing tables aren't overloaded. When they get a customer, they will then assign them an address from that block, so they don't have to talk to the InterNIC to get each address. When they're finished with those addresses, they send all of the reassigned information in to the InterNIC, so that we can add it to the database. Then they request another block.

Thom Stark--I've heard you're no longer assigning Class B IP networks.

Hubbard--With the advent of CIDR, everything is classless, so Class C or Class B or Class A really doesn't mean a whole lot. BUT..if somebody has a specific requirement that they have to have a B and they can't have 256 C's, we'll make that assignment.

Thom Stark--So has CIDR made the problem of routing table growth less critical?

Hubbard--It is still critical. Very, very critical. CIDR helps it, of course, but it's still a very, very big problem. In fact, I got a message today (August 3, 1995--ed) that it (the routing table) had gone over 30,000 entries.

Thom Stark--Yikes! That's 30,000-by-30,000 MATRIX, not just 30,000 individual entries!

Hubbard--It's a very, very big problem.

Thom Stark--What about IP address depletion? In the ARPANET days, there were a lot of Class A addresses given out. Is that address space recoverable at this late date?

Hubbard--To tell you the truth, Bill Manning of IANA has, in probably the last 2 months, retrieved about 10 Class A's. Luckily, there are a lot of organizations out there who want to be good Internet citizens and realize the predicament the Internet is in, so they have returned the Class A's.

Thom Stark--What will be the impact on the InterNIC when IPv6 ("IP next generation") is rolled out?