Re: [RAI] Global Service Provider ID - draft-pfautz-service-provider-identifier-urn-01

["Worley, Dale R (Dale)" <[e-mail]>]

> From: PFAUTZ, PENN L [[e-mail]]
> 
> The outstanding issues seemed to be
> 
> 1. Is a new resource assignment necessary for the URN or could an
> existing one, Private Enterprise Numbers or ITADs be used with a URN
> defined to provide a fixed length parameter as requested in the I-D?
> 
> 2. Assuming a fixed length parameter will be used, what’s the right
> length?

I am in favor of using one of the existing identifiers so as to avoid
the proliferation of registries.

Regarding the number of digits, I would suggest at least 10, to allow
the number of identifiable entities to exceed the population of the
earth.  This sounds amusing, but not too many years ago, the number of
possible IP addresses was less than the number of people on earth, and
that turned out to be insufficient.  (See RFC 814 for an early
discussion.)

In regard to current registration, about 1,500 ITADs and 40,000
private enterprise numbers have been assigned, which would not
seriously deplete either number space for these purposes.  A more
serious question is whether the administrative procedures of the IANA
are sufficient for the envisioned business purposes -- are there legal
requirements that would make it preferable to have assignment
implemented by another organization?

Dale