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APNIC Annual Report 1998

Contents

[ Contents | Section 1 | Section 2 | Section 3 | Section 4 | Section 5 ]

2. Major activities of 1998

2.1. Secretariat relocation

During 1997, following an extensive regional survey of possible locations for the APNIC Secretariat (carried out by KPMG) Brisbane, Australia was chosen as the best available location for the APNIC Secretariat. By the end of that year, suitable premises had been located and a new company (APNIC Pty Ltd) was established in Australia with similar corporate structure to APNIC Ltd (incorporated in the Seychelles).

Relocation to the new premises commenced in February 1998 and was completed in August of that year.

APNIC staff were hired before and during the transition process; however, from the beginning to the end of 1998, almost the entire staff had been replaced and only one member of the 1997 staff remained. (A summary of staff changes is set out in section 2.3 below.)

Relocation costs:

The major costs of relocating to Brisbane were consultancy fees for the site location and tax analysis, travel and accommodation, and staff moving expenses. Because most of APNIC's equipment in Tokyo was on loan from NTT-Japan and the furniture was second-hand, the actual shipping costs were kept to a minimum. The total costs of relocating were US$18,194 in 1997 and US$21,182 in 1998.

2.2. Corporate structure

A new Australian-registered company, APNIC Pty Ltd (Australian Company Number 081 528 010) was formally registered on 5 February 1998, with non-profit status established in its Memorandum and Articles of Association (see http://www.apnic.net/docs/corpdocs/).

As part of its initial investigations into the cost of operation in Australia, KPMG sought and received an interim ruling from the Australian Taxation Office confirming that APNIC Member contributions would be treated as non-taxable 'mutual' funds. In early 1998, after APNIC had incorporated the new company, this ruling was sought again. On 29 October 1998, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) formally confirmed that APNIC member contributions would be considered non-taxable mutual funds.

It should be noted that future changes to APNIC's membership and fee structures need to be considered in light of the ATO ruling on member funds to ensure that mutual status is maintained.

The conditions of current APNIC memberships are still governed by the By-laws and Membership Agreement of APNIC Ltd; however, a transition of all membership agreements to the new company (APNIC Pty Ltd) will be completed within 12 months from March 1999. The Memorandum and Articles of Association for APNIC Pty Ltd are available at http://www.apnic.net/docs/corpdocs and ftp://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/corpdocs.

2.3. APNIC Staffing

Due to practical restrictions on recruiting by APNIC in Japan, the APNIC Secretariat historically has been understaffed and, consequently, has had difficulty meeting its service obligations to the Asia Pacific region. At the start of 1998, the APNIC staff was as follows:

• David Conrad, Director General
• Kyoko Day, Business Manager
• Yoshiko Chong, Senior Hostmaster
• Yoshiko Tobata, Administrative Assistant
• Natsuko Minamisawa, Assistant
• Anne Lord, Senior Hostmaster

After completion of the relocation to Brisbane, the APNIC staff was:

• Paul Wilson, Director General (commenced 1 August 1998)
• Kyoko Day, Business Manager (relocated from Japan)
• Anne Lord, Senior Hostmaster (commenced January 1998)
• Yoshiko Chong, Senior Hostmaster (remained in Japan)
• Fabrina Hossain, Hostmaster (commenced 1 June 1998)
• Paul Gampe, Senior Systems Administrator (commenced 21 April 1998)
• Connie Chan, Membership Officer (commenced 25 May 1998)

Two further appointments were made in late 1998:

• Gerard Ross, Technical Writer (commenced 14 December 1998)
• Bruce Campbell, Systems Administrator (commenced 16 December 1998)

Recruitment for a Hostmaster position at the same time provided no suitable candidates; however, 2 Hostmaster positions have been advertised at the time of writing.

Yoshiko Chong, the original APNIC Hostmaster, concluded her employment with APNIC on 31 December 1998.

In summary, at the time of writing, the APNIC staff is as follows:

• Paul Wilson, Director General
• Kyoko Day, Business Manager
• Connie Chan, Memberships Officer
• Anne Lord, Manager - Member Services
• Fabrina Hossain, Hostmaster
• Gerard Ross, Technical Writer
• Paul Gampe, Technical Services Manager
• Bruce Campbell, System Administrator

Current APNIC staff are listed on the APNIC web site at http://www.apnic.net/info/staff/index.html.

As mentioned above, two hostmaster positions remain vacant in the Member Services department; they are expected to be filled during April 1999.

By the end of 1999, APNIC expects to have a total of 16 staff members, including the Director General. To put this figure in perspective, it should be compared with current staffing levels at other registries: more than 20 at ARIN and more than 60 at RIPE-NCC.

The expected staffing allocations are as follows:

• 1 Member Services Manager
• 4 Hostmasters (0.5 allocated to Training)
• 1 Training Officer
• 1 Technical Writer/Webmaster

• 1 Technical Services Manager
• 1 System Administrator
• 1 Database Administrator
• 2 Programmer/Developers

• 1 Business Manager
• 1 Membership Officer
• 1 Accountant/Bookkeeper

2.4. Recruitment of new Director General

David Conrad, APNIC Director General since 1993, resigned from his position during 1998. He agreed to continue serving in the position until the relocation of the Secretariat and the recruitment of his replacement were complete.

During the relocation of the Secretariat, APNIC initiated a recruitment process, engaging KPMG as the primary independent consultant. KPMG advertised the position and conducted first-round interviews to produce a shortlist of candidates, which was then presented to the APNIC Executive Council. The EC then conducted the final interviews and made their selection in June 1998. The successful candidate, Mr Paul Wilson of Brisbane, started work as the new Director General of APNIC on 1 August 1998.

The EC resolved that visits to member organisations should be a high priority for the new Director General. Accordingly, in the first six months of his term, he visited members in Singapore, China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. (Further details of the official visits by the new Director General are included in table 6, below).

The costs of recruiting the new Director General consisted mainly of recruitment consultancy fees and expenses relating to travel and accommodation. The recruitment process cost a total of $31,040.

2.5. APNIC official visits: Observation and coordination

Official visits to members and attendance at relevant industry conferences are vital parts of APNIC's role in maintaining a strong and relevant presence in the region and in representing the interests of the region to the wider Internet community. Details of these activities from 1998 are set out in table 6.

2.6. IFWP: New IANA – ICANN transition

In 1998, the United States Commerce Department published two major discussion papers on the management of Internet names and addresses: the 'Green Paper' in February, and then the 'White Paper' in June.

As a result of the White Paper, the International Forum on the White Paper (IFWP) was established to seek public and industry consensus on the form of the 'New IANA' to replace the existing IANA. Public meetings were held in the name of the IFWP in Geneva, Reston, Singapore, and Buenos Aires, with the intention of gathering input into the form of the New IANA.

After consultations in Geneva in July 1998, the boards of the three Regional Internet Registries issued a position statement on the New IANA. Then, in August 1998, the APNIC Director General and members of the EC attended the Asia-Pacific IFWP meeting in Singapore.

In October 1998, the Internet Council for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was established. In the following month, APNIC attended an open meeting of ICANN in Boston USA. The Address Supporting Organisation (ASO) of ICANN is expected to be formed in 1999, to carry primary responsibility for global policy recommendations in the area of Internet address space management. The exact form of the ASO is not yet certain, however APNIC intends to play a strong role in the organisation, in the interests of its members and in collaboration with the other RIRs.

Depending on the progress of ongoing deliberations by the RIRs, APNIC expects to incur obligations to provide funding for the ASO and/or ICANN, and has budgeted US$50,000 for this purpose in 1999 (in addition to an amount of US$50,000 allocated in 1998 but not spent).

2.7. Sponsorships

APNIC is grateful for the generous support it has received in the form of sponsorship from a number of organisations. Table 7, sets out the sponsorship APNIC received in 1998.

2.8. APRICOT Conference

In previous years, APNIC has committed considerable labour and resources in support of the APRICOT conference and has underwritten the conference financially. However, in 1998 the APNIC EC resolved that APNIC could no longer maintain that level of support, but should instead contribute to APRICOT in future years through normal sponsorship channels.

Hence, in 1999, APNIC has become a Platinum Sponsor of APRICOT, contributing US$19,000.

An independent survey of the APNIC membership will be conducted during the first half of 1999, to gather information on members' needs and priorities, which will in turn influence APNIC's business and strategic planning processes. A membership survey form was circulated in February 1999 and direct consultations with members will take place during the APRICOT week in March in Singapore. The results and recommendations of this survey process will be provided to the APNIC EC and Secretariat by the end of March 1999.

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