RIPE NCC (Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre) is the regional Internet registry (RIR) for Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with a branch office in Dubai, UAE.
A RIR oversees the allocation and registration of Internet number resources (IPv4 addresses, IPv6 addresses and autonomous system numbers) in a specific region.
The RIPE NCC supports the technical and administrative coordination of the infrastructure of the Internet. It is a not-for-profit membership organisation with over 10,000 (as of March 2014) members located in over 76 countries in its service region.
Any individual or organisation can become a member of the RIPE NCC. The membership consists mainly of Internet service providers (ISPs), telecommunication organisations, educational institutions, governments, regulatory agencies, and large corporations.
The RIPE NCC also provides technical and administrative support to Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE), a forum open to all parties with an interest in the technical development of the Internet.
History
The RIPE NCC began its operations in April 1992 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Initial funding was provided by the academic networks Réseaux Associés pour la Recherche Européenne (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. The first RIPE NCC Activity Plan was published in May 1991.
On 25 November 2019, RIPE NCC announced that it had made its “final /22 IPv4 allocation from the last remaining addresses in our available pool. We have now run out of IPv4 addresses.” RIPE NCC will continue to allocate IPv4 addresses, but only “from organisations that have gone out of business or are closed, or from networks that return addresses they no longer need. These addresses will be allocated to our members (LIRs) according to their position on a new waiting list ….” The announcement also called for support for the implementation of the IPv6 roll-out.
Activities
The RIPE NCC support technical coordination of the Internet infrastructure in its service region and beyond. It undertakes many activities in this area, including: Allocation and registration of Internet number resources (IP addresses and autonomous system numbers) The allocation of IP addresses is important for several reasons. Public addresses need to be unique; if duplicate internet addresses existed on a network, network traffic could be delivered to the wrong host. The RIRs make sure that public addresses are given to one organisation. The RIPE NCC does this for its own service region. Worldwide, IANA assigns blocks of addresses to the RIRs and they distribute these to end users via the LIRs (normally ISPs). Beside making sure that IP addresses and AS Numbers are only allocated to one user, the shortage of IPv4 addresses makes it important that the remaining addresses are allocated in an organised manner. For many years, the RIPE NCC has followed strict guidelines on how to assign IPv4 addresses according to policy developed by the RIPE Community, as outlined in the RIPE Document ripe-498. As the last /8 block has been assigned from IANA to all the RIRs, the RIPE NCC will only have new IPv4 addresses available for allocation for a certain amount of time. Development, operation and maintenance of the RIPE Database. Development, operation and maintenance of the RIPE Routing Registry. Operation of K-root, one of the world's root name servers. Coordination support for ENUM delegations . Collection and publication of neutral statistics on Internet development and performance, notable via the RIPE Atlas global measurement network and RIPEstat, a web-based interface providing information about IP address space, autonomous system numbers, and related information for hostnames and countries.
Structure
Legal
The RIPE NCC is governed by Dutch law. Its legal form is a “vereniging” (association).
Organisational
The RIPE NCC consists of:
Members
Members can directly influence the RIPE NCC’s activities and services. Members are responsible for nominating and electing candidates to the RIPE NCC executive board and for accepting the RIPE NCC charging scheme and approving the RIPE NCC financial report each year. Members also give input to, and feedback on, the activities carried out and the services provided by the RIPE NCC.