RIPE handles delay

Hi,

For the last ten days or so we have noticed that replies for a new contact 
handle to auto-dbm at ripe.net is taking much more than the usual 2-5 minutes 
as it used to be in the good old times ;-) Although we request only a few 
handles per month, a relly from RIPE takes now 10-20 hrs or more in some 
cases, regardless of the time (day or night, week or week-end) when the 
request is sent out.

I have heard of some kind of explanation related to SW/HW upgrades at RIPE 
and huge requests of handles being queued by some provider a few days ago, 
however, can someone at RIPE tell if the situation is going to be solved 
soon and when ?

Unfortunately this is causing at least an additional 1+ day delay in the 
registration of new domains at the Italian NIC, as IT-NIC requests that a 
handle exists for each contact before the domain registration form is 
submitted. Of course any comment from IT-NIC on how they can modify their 
internal procedures to minimize such delays (i.e. by IT-NIC requesting a 
new handle to RIPE directly) is also welcome.

Thanks.


--
Alfredo E. Cotroneo                  PO Box 11028, 20110, Milano, Italy
Phone: +39-335-214-614 (try first) / +39-02-266-6971
email: alfredo at nexus.org                          fax: +39-02-706-38151