RIPE NCC Annual General Meeting 1999

(Minutes)

Abstract

Traditionally these minutes reflect the detailed discussions for the benefit of those unable to attend the Annual General Meeting. Those interested in a very short summary may want to refer to the Appendix listing the decisions.

List of Participants

James Aldridge, EUnet Communications Services BV
Lajos Balint, HUNGARNET
Steve Barton, I S Products Limited
Stephen Burley, UUNET
Ali Badiel Drissa, ONATEL
Tim Dimond, I S Products Limited
Kees van Draanen, RIPE NCC
Frode Greisen, Ebone Inc.
Arjen Jansen, Glasshouse Business Network
Sabine Jaume, Renter
Daniel Karrenberg, RIPE NCC
Theodoros Karounos, GR-NET S.A.
Mirjam Kuehne, RIPE NCC
Keith Mitchell, London Internet Exchange
Kees Neggers, SURFnet bv
Hans Niklasson, Tele2 AB
Mike Norris, HEAnet
Axel Pawlik, RIPE NCC
Carsten Schiefner, TCP/IP GmbH - Contrib.Net
Darren Taylor, Demon Internet Limited
Nigel Titley, Level3 Communications International
Wilfried Woeber, Vienna Univ. Computer Center - ACOnet

Draft Agenda

1. Welcome, Preliminaries, Approval of AGM'98 Minutes, Agenda
2. Operational Report by RIPE NCC Management
3. Financial Reporting:
   a. Approval of 1998 Financial Results
   b. Interim Financial Report Q3'99
4. Postponing 2000 Annual General Meeting
5. Activity Plan and Expenditure for 2000 (ripe-197)
6. Charging Scheme (ripe-198)
7. Report from the Executive Board
8. RIPE NCC Executive Board Elections

1.Welcome, Preliminaries, Approval of AGM'98 Minutes, Agenda

Keith Mitchell, chairman of the RIPE NCC Executive Board and as such statutory chair of the meeting, welcomed all attendees and introduced Axel Pawlik, the new Managing Director of RIPE NCC. He also announced receiving an apology from Mr. Daniele Bovio, a candidate for the Executive Board, who could not be present. The Chair proposed to review the proposed agenda and asked participants to suggest amendments or query agenda items. No amendments or questions were raised and the agenda was fixed.

2. Operational Report by RIPE NCC Management

Mirjam Kuehne, RIPE NCC Head of External Services, provided an overview of operations and services covering the period October 1998 to October 1999.

The presentation can be found at:
http://www.ripe.net/meetings/contrib/agm99/ncc-status/

3. Financial Reporting:

a.Approval of 1998 Financial Results

The audited Financial Statements for 1998 have been approved by the RIPE NCC Executive Board and have been available on the RIPE NCC servers for six months. To date, no comments have been received. The General Meeting approved the 1998 audited financial results.

b.Interim Financial Report Q3'99

Kees van Draanen presented the financial results up to the third quarter of 1999. He stated that the results were interim, unaudited and based on accrual accounting. The RIPE NCC Q3'99 financial results presentation can be found at:

4. Postponing 2000 Annual General Meeting

Article 14.2 of the RIPE NCC Articles of Association states that a General Meeting be held within six months after the financial year close to approve the audited financial statements, unless the period in question is extended by the Annual General Meeting. Traditionally, meetings are held in autumn to review the activity plan, budget and charging scheme for the subsequent operating year.

The formal resolution:

"As no special circumstances are foreseen, the General Meeting proposes to extend the period to approve the audited financial statements 1999 as stated in Article 14.2 of the RIPE NCC Articles of Association to 31 October 2000. The board shall send the audited financial statements to the members upon receipt of the auditors final report and audited financial statements."

The motion was passed unanimously by the meeting participants.

5. Activity Plan and Expenditure for 2000 (ripe-197)

The document RIPE NCC Activities & Expenditure 2000 can be found on the RIPE NCC Web site at:

http://www.ripe.net/docs/ripe-197.html

Mirjam Kuehne and Kees van Draanen presented the RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Expenditure for 2000. The presentation can be found on the RIPE NCC Web site at:

Discussions resulting from the presentation were as follows:

Stephen Burley asked about the eventual charging scheme for the Test Traffic Measurement service. Daniel answered that the RIPE NCC will probably have two kinds of members; the first would make use of Registration Services and the second would use Test Traffic Services or both. We need to investigate how to make the Test Traffic Service useful for those who do not participate directly. Stephen Burley asked if the RIPE NCC had a definite date proposed for a payment scheme for those members who do not wish to make use of this service. Mirjam stated that the RIPE NCC will investigate the charging scheme during the 2000 operating year in order to propose a charging scheme defining both services for 2001. This issue will be further discussed in the Test Traffic Working Group and at RIPE Meetings.

Mike Norris asked about the level of charges expected for users of the Test Traffic Service in 2001. This year's expenditure for the project is ECU300k and in 2001 the expenditure is expected to be of the same order of magnitude. Daniel stated that his personal goal is to reach about 100 serious users by 2001. So the charges would be on the order of ECU3000 per user per year; probably less once more users join.

Hans Niklasson referred to the announcement of additional training courses for RIPE NCC members in 2000 and asked what the time frame would be for delivering such courses.

Mirjam answered that a need for additional courses and courses with a different focus was clearly stated in responses to the RIPE NCC membership questionnaire conducted in December 1998. What exactly the new courses will entail will be discussed with the membership. We obviously need to make sure courses that fall into the responsibilities of the ISPs are not provided by the RIPE NCC. Hans Niklasson also asked how the additional courses would be financed. Kees said that the plan is to cover the costs with the initial sign-up fees charged to each member.

Ali Badiel Drissa asked if the training course material could be made available electronically, as many LIRs find it too expensive to travel to the courses. Mirjam pointed out that the Training Course material has always been available on the RIPE NCC web servers under:

New handouts and material is being developed and these will also be posted on the web site. The RIPE NCC has tried to organise meetings in African countries but unfortunately had to cancel them for various reasons, also due to lack of interest. The RIPE NCC constantly monitors its new and present membership to plan upcoming courses.

Lajos Balint asked what the 500 KEU reserve in the Budget is intended for. Kees van Draanen stated that this amount is a best guess of activities that cover additional Co-ordination Activities including costs to ICANN, the set-up and operating costs of the ASO Address Council as well as resources to make the RIPE community's policies and point of view better known.

The formal resolution:

"The General Meeting adopts the activity plan and budget for the year 2000."

The General Meeting unanimously adopted the RIPE NCC Activity Plan and Budget for the 2000 operation period.

6. Charging Scheme (ripe-198)

Kees van Draanen presented the proposed Charging Scheme 2000 document to the participants. In the proposal presented by Kees a small registry is charged 2400 EUR, a medium registry 3350 EUR and a large registry 4,400 EUR

The draft of 'RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2000' (ripe-198) and fee schedule is available on the RIPE NCC Web site at:

The Board proposes to continue using the charging scheme successfully used over the last years.

The formal resolution:

"The General Meeting resolves to continue using the current charging scheme and adopts the year 2000 fee schedule."

The General Meeting decided to continue using the current charging scheme and unanimously adopted the 2000 (ripe-198) fee schedule.

7. Report from the Executive Board

Keith Mitchell gave a Report on the Executive Board activities for the period from November 1998 to October 1999. The Executive Board presentation can be found on:

8. RIPE NCC Executive Board Elections

The term of Kees Neggers expires on 12 November 1999. Candidates for the Executive Board can be nominated according to Article 7 of the RIPE NCC Articles of Association.

Nominations for the RIPE NCC Executive Board included Nigel Titley, Kees Neggers and Daniele Bovio. In the first round of voting, Nigel Titley received 29 votes, Kees Neggers 17 and Daniele Bovio 3. A second vote was taken to fill the remaining seat on the board. In the second round, Kees Neggers received 43 votes and Daniele Bovio received 6 votes.

Nigel Titley and Kees Neggers were elected to the RIPE NCC Executive Board.

Wim Vink, on behalf of the Executive Board, thanked Keith Mitchell for his service on the Board. Keith Mitchell thanked the members for their confidence in the Executive Board and he also thanked the Executive Board for their commitment and good work.

9. Closing

With no further business to discuss, Keith Mitchell formally closed the meeting.

APPENDIX:   Decisions of the General Meeting

- The General Meeting decides to extend the period for adoption of the annual report 1999 as mentioned in Article 14.2 of the statutes to 15 November 2000. The Board shall send the annual report to the members as soon as the books have been audited and the final report of the auditors has been received.

- The General Meeting adopts the Activity Plan and Expenditure 2000 (ripe-197).

- The General Meeting decides to continue using the current charging scheme and adopted the 2000 fee schedule (ripe-198).

- Executive Board elections: Nigel Titley was elected to the Board. Kees Neggers was elected to the Board.