What Prevents IPv6 Deployment in Europe by Patrick Vande Walle

Patrick Vande Walle writing in Circle ID notes the recent ZDNet UK article on IPv6 and what may slow down its deployment. Jay Daley, from Nominet points out to the fact that the current IPv6 allocation policy used by RIPE NCC is geared towards ISPs. This is a complaint I have heard time and time again. Under the current policy, you have to show to RIPE NCC that you are going to allocate 200 address blocks to your customers before you are allocated a /32 block.Patrick further writes “It is difficult to escape the feeling that this policy was set up by the ISPs in order to protect their business interests. Those ISPs form the vast majority of the RIPE NCC members and the majority of those attending RIPE meetings. Maybe larger end users could attend those meetings, too. However, most companies do not have the time or resources to send someone to such meetings.”A proposal by Jordi Palet Martinez, the well-known white knight of IPv6, aims at addressing this issue. It is still unclear at this stage if the proposal will go through. However the RIPE community will find it difficult to resist the pressure. ARIN, the American Regional registry is already assigning provider-independent /48 s to companies willing to “pay” for it.I know it is quite blasphemous to talk about “paying” and “owning” IP address blocks in the RIR community. Yet, some companies have been using the same IPv4 address blocks for the last 20 years or so. They expect the same stability in the IPv6 world. They look at it as their property, in a way. I am even sure a lawyer could argue that what you have been using for 20 years, without anyone objecting, can reasonably be considered your property.
http://www.circleid.com/posts/what_prevents_ipv6_deployment_europe/