Explained: IANA Transition

On 14 March 2014, the U.S. IANA’s activities can be grouped IANA and Numbers required for the allocation of IP Commerce Department’s into three categories: addresses and ASNs by IANA. National Telecommunications IANA is responsible for the global & Information Administration ••Domain Names - IANA man- coordination of the IP address (NTIA) announced it would ages the System systems, as well as the ASNs used IANA and Names commence a process to tran- (DNS) Root, and the .int and for routing traffic. IANA al- sition its oversight of “key In- .arpa domains. locates IP addresses from the pool IANA verifies all changes to the ternet functions” to the global of unallocated addresses to the DNS Root Zone. The Root Zone, multistakeholder Internet ••Number Resources – IANA RIRs according to their needs and operated by , lists the community. Those functions coordinates the global pool of global policy. IANA also maintains names and addresses for all are the IANA functions. (IP) addresses a registry of all IP address blocks top-level domains (TLDs) such as (IPv4 and IPv6) and Autono- and AS Numbers that have been .com, .org, .net, .cn, .de and so on. mous System Numbers (ASNs), allocated to each RIR. providing them to Regional All requests to make changes to Internet Registries (RIRs). ••Each RIR makes their own the Root Zone, whether to add new requests for IP addresses and or update existing TLDs, are sent ••Protocol Assignments – In- ASNs based on regional needs, to IANA for review and testing What is IANA? ternet protocols’ numbering and the allocations are made against technical and regulatory systems are managed by IANA directly from IANA to the RIRs. requirements. When testing and The Internet Assigned Numbers in conjunction with standards evaluation is complete, IANA Authority (IANA) is responsible for bodies. ••The RIRs then assign IP address- sends the details of the request coordinating some of the Internet’s es to their Members, such as to the NTIA for authorization. technical functions – specifically, The NTIA has a contract with the Internet Service Providers, or Following NTIA authorization, the allocating and maintaining the Internet Corporation for Assigned to National Internet Registries changes are implemented in the unique codes and numbering Names and Numbers (ICANN) to (NIRs) in the economies where Root Zone and its database. systems that allow the Internet to perform the IANA functions on its they exist. operate smoothly. behalf. ••It is important to note there is no US Government authorization IANA Transition factsheet v1.0 May 2014 How the US Government is involved with Internet names and numbers The involvement of the US Gov- ernment in the IANA functions is Delegation of Distribution of highlighted in this diagram. These two areas, marked in red, are the DOMAIN NAMES NUMBERS areas of oversight which the NTIA is proposing to transition to the global Internet community. No other changes to the way Internet Allocate Delegation names and numbers are managed IP Addresses Process Member are being proposed by the NTIA. Root Zone IANA AS Numbers RIR

Why are the RIRs NIR Member involved in the IANA US Department of Commerce transition discussions? NTIA contracts IANA functions Authorization to ICANN by Any discussion about potential US Department of Commerce changes to the oversight of IANA NTIA is of great importance to the RIRs ICANN and their Member communities because the RIRs are dependent on IANA’s numbering functions, including IPv4, IPv6 and ASN HOW CAN I FIND OUT MORE AND GET INVOLVED? registry services. The stability and accountability of these functions APNIC has created an information page with background resources and is of prime importance to the RIRs the latest news. You can also join the mailing list to discuss your views with and the numbering services which the APNIC community. they provide their communities. ICANN’s information page is a very useful resource.

IANA Transition factsheet v1.0 May 2014