Minutes 76th Executive Board Meeting

Minutes of the RIPE NCC Executive Board Meeting EB#76

Status: Final

14 June 2011, 1300-1700, RIPE NCC Offices Amsterdam

Attendees:
Fahad AlShirawi, Member
Dmitry Burkov, ICANN Liaison
Christian Kaufmann, Secretary
Nigel Titley, Chairman
Remco Van Mook, Treasurer
Andreas Wittkemper, Retiring Member
János Zsakó, Adviser

Rob Blokzijl, Chairman, RIPE
Sabine Mader, Assistant to the Managing Director, RIPE NCC
Axel Pawlik, Managing Director, RIPE NCC
Paul Rendek, Head of External Relations and Comms., RIPE NCC
Jochem de Ruig, Chief Financial Officer, RIPE NCC

Agenda

1. Agenda / Comments (1300-1315)

1.1 Apologies, New Agenda Points

1.2 Approval of Previous Minutes, EB#75
(RIPENCC-EBD660)

1.3 Date of Next Meetings
- 14 June 2011, RIPE NCC offices, Amsterdam
- 13 September 2011, RIPE NCC offices, Amsterdam
- RIPE-63 Vienna, informal meetings, date/time tbc

1.4 Conference attendance by Executive Board
(RIPENCC-EBD663)

2. Remaining Outstanding Actions, not covered by agenda (1315-1330)
(RIPENCC-EBD664, RIPENCC-EBD665)

3. Report from the RIPE NCC (1330-1400)
(RIPENCC-EBD661)

3.1 Arbiter Approval D. Freedman
(RIPENCC-EBD666, RIPENCC-EBD671)

3.2 2011 Auditor Recommendation
(RIPENCC-EBD667)

3.3 Procedural Transparency
(RIPENCC-EBD668)

3.3.1 Documents

3.3.2 Procedure

4. RIPE- 62 (1400-1445)

4.1 General Review

4.2 Certification, Policy& Operations

4.3 Listing Service, Facilitating Transfers

4.4 General Meeting

4.4.1 Review

4.4.2 Draft Minutes GM 4 May 2011
(RIPENCC-EBD669)

4.4.3 Recommended Changes

5. Directions 2012 (1445-1615)

5.1 Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan 2012, Vision& Strategy
(RIPENCC-EBD670)

5.2 Forecast 2011-2013
(RIPENCC-EBD672)

5.3Legacy Holders Fees 2011
(RIPENCC-EBD673)

5.4 Draft RIPE NCC Charging Scheme
(RIPENCC-EBD674, RIPENCC-EBD675),

6. External Relations (1615-1645)

6.1 ICANN / IANA

6.2 NRO / RIRs

6.3 ITU

6.4 RIPE

6.5 IETF

7. AOB (1645-1700)

7.1 Admin Issues

Nigel Titley, RIPE NCC Chairman, opened the meeting at 13:00

1. Agenda / Comments

No new agenda points were raised.

1.1 Apologies, New Agenda Points

No apologies, all Board members were present. Fahad joined the
meeting via tele-conference.

1.2 Approval of Previous Minutes, EB#75

No comment was brought forward on the previous minutes; the Board
approved the minutes of Executive Board Meeting #75.

1.3 Date of Next Meetings

• 13 September 2011, location (tbc)
• RIPE-63 Vienna, informal meetings, Monday, 31 Oct.& Wednesday, 2 Nov. at 12:30 (tbc)
• 15 December 2011, RIPE NCC Offices at 13:00, Amsterdam

1.4 Conference attendance by Executive Board

Nigel reminded the Board members to review the list of conferences and provide Sam with any changes or corrections.

2. Remaining Outstanding Actions, not covered by agenda

EB155 11/03/2009 AP
The Board asked Axel to produce a list of performance areas that would be reported to the Board monthly and every quarter.
Status: 28/9/2010: In Progress. The Board asked Axel for the first report on performance to be delivered end of Oct. 2010. Due date is one month after every quarter.
Status: 14/12/2010: The Board asked Axel to submit a document with a view of historical KPI's, going back 2 years.
Status: 08/03/2011: Ongoing. Axel was asked to submit a document for the upcoming Board meeting.
Status: 14/06/2011: Ongoing. Axel provided a set of KPI's from Registration Services (RS). The Board asked Axel to extend this beyond RS and include status reporting related to SLAs and the time distribution between the member, RS/CS and the robot.

EB199 28/09/2010 AP
The Board asked Axel to produce a proposal for measuring customer satisfaction.
Status: 14/12/2010: Ongoing
Status: 08/03/2011: Ongoing. The Board asked Axel to produce a proposal that includes the RIPE NCC Member and Stakeholder Survey 2011.
Status: 14/06/2011: DONE

EB200 14/12/2010 AP
The Board suggested a few questionnaires that could be conducted after members use various RIPE NCC services - after a members experience with RIPE NCC customer services / post Registration services sign-up / post RIPE meeting attendance.
Status: 08/03/2011: Ongoing
Status: 14/06/2011: In Progress. Axel confirmed that this activity would be underway by September 2011 due to other commitments.

EB201 14/12/2010 AP
For the Russian membership, the Board tasked the RIPE NCC to investigate and when possible execute the option to open a bank account in Russia, to facilitate payments for Russian members.
Status: 08/03/2011: Ongoing.
Status: 14/06/2011: Ongoing. The Board asked the RIPE NCC to move forward with opening a bank account locally in Russia.

EB203 08/03/2011 AP
The Board asked Axel to prepare statistics about LIR closures to be included in the Board report.
Status: 14/06/2011: DONE

EB205 08/03/2011 AP
The Board asked Axel to place a revised copy of the annual report on the Board document repository.
Status: 14/06/2011: DONE

EB208 08/03/2011 AP
RIPE NCC to investigate making contact with the corporate layer in PR activities regarding the run-out of IPv4 and the deployment of IPv6.
Status: 14/06/2011: Closed

3. Report from the RIPE NCC

Axel asked the Board if they had any comment on his report published for the Board to review prior to the Exec. Board Meeting. The Board briefly discussed general staffing issues with Axel.

Dmitry asked for an update on the Atlas project plan and financial forecast. The Board asked Axel to circulate the plan for the expansion of the Atlas project including a clear timeframe, goals and scenarios for the future of the project prior to producing any further probes.

ACTION: Axel to produce an update on the Atlas project including future direction and financial forecasts. The Board requested that this be submitted by 24 June 2011. The Board also requested that no new probes be ordered until they have received the update on the project. The Board also asked Axel to include Atlas project as an agenda item for the upcoming Exec. Board meeting.

3.1 Arbiter Approval D. Freedman

Axel asked the Board if they supported David Freedman as a candidate for the Arbitration panel. The Board unanimously agreed to put David forward in the upcoming RIPE NCC General Meeting in Vienna.

3.2 2011 Auditor Recommendation

Jochem reported that the RIPE NCC approached PWC, BDO, Ernst & Young and Deloitte to submit proposals to become the auditors for the RIPE NCC. All organisations sent in a proposal except for Ernst & Young. There was a short discussion on the proposals. Following discussion the Board selected BDO as the new auditors for the RIPE NCC.

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to contact BDO and secure their services as the RIPE NCC auditors.

EB204 08/03/2011 AP
The Board asked Axel to thank the current auditors for their service and acquire a new organisation to audit the RIPE NCC finances.
Status: 14/06/2011: DONE

3.3 Procedural Transparency

Jochem presented a set of flow charts that outline the process for the creation and vetting of RIPE NCC procedural documents. After a brief discussion the Board asked to see timelines attached to the various flow charts. The Board discussed whether the RIPE NCC membership or RIPE community or both should be commenting on RIPE NCC procedures.

It was agreed that the Board, as representatives of the membership, would be responsible for signing off on procedural documents and the final version will be published to the RIPE NCC membership and RIPE community. If the Board believes that input from the members is needed it will task the RIPE NCC to ask for feedback from members.

3.3.1 Documents

This item was discussed in section 3.3

3.3.2 Procedure

This item was discussed in section 3.3

4. RIPE-62

4.1 General Review

Rob reported on the outcome of the RIPE 62 meeting. He was pleased to see that RIPE Task Force has established a Program Committee to prepare the program of future RIPE meetings. He further commented that the meeting was very well organised and he thanked the RIPE NCC staff involved. The Board also thanked Axel and his staff for a well-run meeting.

Rob mentioned that the preparations for RIPE 63 in Vienna were well underway.

4.2 Certification, Policy& Operations

Nigel provided the meeting with an overview of the current status of the certification policy proposal.

To start discussion on this agenda point Nigel simply stated that a way forward could be the withdrawal of the current certification policy proposal but the continuation of certificate distribution to the RIPE NCC members. He then asked for discussion.

Nigel suggested seeking the approval of the General Meeting to continue with the development of certification services. After discussion the Board agreed that further discussion was needed at the upcoming RIPE Meeting and an agenda point would be included in the draft agenda.

After discussion on the resolution the Board unanimously agreed to the following:

Draft Resolution:

WHEREAS the board has been asked by the staff to give direction on the RPKI activities of the association,
WHEREAS the board has heard the discussion in the RIPE community over recent months and in particular at the previous RIPE meeting
WHEREAS the board has heard support from the community and the membership for operating and further developing the RPKI,
WHEREAS the board has heard concerns from some that the autonomy of the members to set and implement their routing policy might be reduced by the RPKI,
WHEREAS the board has heard requests to get detailed information about the reasons for potential revocation of certificates,
WHEREAS the Certification activity has been outlined in the RIPE NCC Activity Plan for the last five years with no negative feedback from the membership,
THEREFORE the board directs the staff to continue operating and developing the RPKI infrastructure,
THEREFORE the board directs the staff to start a programme of providing (prototype) RPKI tools for use by ISPs,
THEREFORE the board directs the staff to make proposals on how the RIPE NCC can provide additional machine accessible information on the reasons for any revocation of certificates,
THEREFORE the board reiterates its direction to the staff to make preserving the autonomy of ISPs in setting and implementing their routing policy a priority in all these activities,
THEREFORE in order to confirm that the members explicitly continue to support the Certification activity the Board will ask the membership at the upcoming General Meeting.

Rob suggested that the Program Committee of the RIPE meeting should be contacted to propose that some of the meeting focus on Certification, focus on the principles. The meeting agreed that this was indeed a good idea.

4.3 Listing Service, Facilitating Transfers

Axel provided the Board with an update on the listing service currently being offered or in development at the other RIRs. After discussion the Board agreed for Axel to move forward and submit a proposal for the production of a listing service.

ACTION: Axel was asked to provide the Board with a proposal on a Listing Service for their approval. The proposal is due in the week of 11 July 2011.

4.4 General Meeting

4.4.1 Review

The Board was pleased with the outcome of the General Meeting May 2011. Nigel asked for feedback on any improvements that could be made. The meeting focused its discussion on the voting that took place.

During the discussion the Board agreed to ask the participants at the General Meeting to vote online for the Board elections. It was suggested that the RIPE NCC allow members to register to vote online up to day of the General Meeting. The Board also suggested providing a short demo. on how the e-voting system works.

ACTION: Axel to produce a set of proposed changes to the Articles of Association needed to support the suggested improvements to e-voting.

ACTION: The Board asked the RIPE NCC to provide a proposal to conduct online voting at a time more suitable to all of the time zones of the RIPE NCC service region, taking into account the Russian region.

4.4.2 Draft Minutes GM 4 May 2011

The Board approved the minutes of the General Meeting May 2011 and asked the RIPE NCC to publish the minutes online.

4.4.3 Recommended Changes

No further recommendations for changes to the General Meeting were raised.

5. Directions 2012

5.1 Draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan 2012, Vision& Strategy

The Board discussed the draft RIPE NCC Activity Plan 2012. After discussion the Board asked the RIPE NCC to revise the draft Activity Plan to focus more on regional development and outreach. The outreach should be centred not only technical communities but also other stakeholders as well as potential stakeholders. The Board also emphasised that the RIPE NCC should carry out outreach activities to new territories to strengthen the RIPE community and RIPE NCC membership. The Middle East and Eurasian region were mentioned as regions of focus.

5.2 Forecast 2011-2013

Jochem presented the financial forecasts to the Board. There were no comments received on the scenarios provided but the Board was pleased to see that the FTE level will remain roughly the same as 2011. In order to make more informed decisions with a range of scenarios, the Board asked Axel to produce another strongly negative
scenario for the Board to review.

ACTION: Axel to produce an additional scenario that shows the financial consequences of a drop of 1/3 of the membership in time for the Exec. Board Meeting in September.

5.3 Legacy Holders Fees 2011

The Board discussed the issue of fees for legacy space holders to become members of the RIPE NCC. The Board agreed that initially, the RIPE NCC would waive the sign-up fee and service fee for legacy holders for 2012. It was agreed that membership benefits such as free RIPE meeting tickets, training, etc. would be extended to holders of legacy space that become members.

EB207 08/03/2011 AP
Axel was asked to prepare scenarios for contractual relationships with legacy resources holders for further discussion.
Status: 14/06/2011: DONE

ACTION: The Board asked the RIPE NCC to coordinate initial communication with Legacy Holders with Rob Blokzijl.

5.4 Draft RIPE NCC Charging Scheme

Jochem presented the Board with several possible models for a RIPE NCC Charging Scheme. The Board discussed the various models brought forward.

The Board agreed on a model to propose to the RIPE NCC Membership but would like to discuss the details further. This model bases the boundaries on Internet Number Resources (IPv4, ASNs and IPv6) and at this time charging for additional services is not taken into account.

ACTION: The Board asked Axel to produce a financial scenario that shows the revenue needed to make TTM and DNSMON reach break even.

6. External Relations

6.1 ICANN / IANA

Dmitry provided the Board with an update on developments in ICANN.
There were no further questions.

6.2 NRO / RIRs

EB206 08/03/2011 AP
The Board asked Axel to work with the other RIR CEOs to incorporate the NRO.

Status: 14/06/2011: Ongoing

6.3 ITU

Dmitry mentioned that he would be following ITU activities more closely and would report to developments to the Board. The Board thanked Dmitry.

6.4 RIPE

Rob provided a short update on RIPE activities and concentrated on reporting from RIPE 62 and what could be expected at RIPE 63. He also was pleased to inform the Board on the success of the first RIPE Day held at the ENOG meeting in Moscow. He mentioned that the event was very successful and that the ENOG meeting attracted 364
attendees.

Although a RIPE Day would not be held at the RIPE NCC Regional Meeting planned in Dubrovnik in September 2011 he did confirm that a RIPE Day would likely take place at the upcoming MENOG meeting planned to take place in Muscat as well as the next ENOG meeting. Rob mentioned that he would monitor the meeting planned for Dubrovnik and see whether the local community would find a RIPE Day useful if they planned to continue meeting in the future.

No further questions were raised.

6.5 IETF

Dmitry raised a few relevant issues to RIPE NCC business. No questions were raised.

7. AOB (1645-1700)

No issues were raised.

7.1 Admin Issues

The Chairman closed the meeting at 17:40

Outstanding Action Items

EB155 11/03/2009 AP
The Board asked Axel to produce a list of performance areas that would be reported to the Board monthly and every quarter.
Status: 28/9/2010: In Progress. The Board asked Axel for the first report on performance to be delivered end of Oct. 2010. Due date is one month after every quarter.
Status: 14/12/2010: The Board asked Axel to submit a document with a view of historical KPI's, going back 2 years.
Status: 08/03/2011: Ongoing. Axel was asked to submit a document for the upcoming Board meeting.
Status: 14/06/2011: Ongoing. Axel provided a set of KPI's from Registration Services (RS). The Board asked Axel to extend this beyond RS and include status reporting related to SLAs and the time distribution between the member, RS/CS and the robot.

EB200 14/12/2010 AP
The Board suggested a few questionnaires that could be conducted after members use various RIPE NCC services - after a members experience with RIPE NCC customer services / post Registration services sign-up / post RIPE meeting attendance.
Status: 08/03/2011: Ongoing
Status: 14/06/2011: Ongoing. Axel confirmed that this activity would be underway by September 2011 due to other commitments.

EB201 14/12/2010 AP
For the Russian membership, the Board tasked the RIPE NCC to investigate and when possible execute the option to open a bank account in Russia, to facilitate payments for Russian members.
Status: 08/03/2011: Ongoing.
Status: 14/06/2011: Ongoing. The Board asked the RIPE NCC to move forward with opening a bank account locally in Russia.

EB206 08/03/2011 AP
The Board asked Axel to work with the other RIR CEOs to incorporate the NRO.
Status: 14/06/2011: Ongoing

New Action Items

EB207 14/06/2011 AP
Axel to produce an update on the Atlas project including future direction and financial forecasts. The Board requested that this be submitted by 24 June 2011. The Board also requested that no new probes be ordered until they have received the update on the project. The Board also asked Axel to include Atlas project as an agenda item for the upcoming Exec. Board meeting.

EB208 14/06/2011 AP
The Board asked Axel to contact BDO and secure their services as the RIPE NCC auditors.

EB209 14/06/2011 AP
Axel was asked to provide the Board with a proposal on a Listing Service for their approval. The proposal is due in the week of 11 July 2011.

EB210 14/06/2011 AP
Axel to produce a set of proposed changes to the Articles of Association needed to support the suggested improvements to e-voting.

EB211 14/06/2011 AP
The Board asked the RIPE NCC to provide a proposal to conduct online voting at a time more suitable to the whole time zone of the RIPE NCC service region, taking into account the Russian region.

EB212 14/06/2011 AP
Axel to produce an additional scenario that shows the financial consequences of a drop of 1/3 of the membership in time for the Exec. Board Meeting in September.

EB213 14/06/2011 AP
The Board asked the RIPE NCC to coordinate initial communication with Legacy Holders with Rob Blokzijl.

EB214 14/06/2011 AP
The Board asked Axel to produce a financial scenario that shows the revenue needed to make TTM and DNSMON reach break even.