what is APNIC

Saroj Jangir

The meaning of the acronym APNIC is – Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre. This is an international organization that is involved with administering, managing as well as assigning of IP addresses and Internet number resources including ASNs in the given region.

what is APNIC

According to the abbreviation, APNIC means Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre. It is the non-profit organisation that oversees the distribution and assignment of Internet Protocol (IP) address and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs), and other vital Internet resource in Asia-Pacific region.

APNIC is one of five Regional Internet Registries out of 3, which have been accredited by the IANA. Its service countries are in the Asia-Pacific area, specifically, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and many more.

APNIC also provides various training and education programs to help build capacity and promote the development of the Internet in the region.

More About APNIC

APNIC was formed in 1993 with a view to becoming a nonprofit organization and was formed by a group of volunteers from the Asia-Pacific networking community.
Today, the company’s headquarters is in Brisbane, Australia; however, it owns offices in Japan and China as well.
Some of the services that are offered by the APNIC are IP Address and ASN for allocation, resource certification services, Whois database services, DNS root server services, among others.
It is managed by a Board of Directors that is yourself-elected by the members of the organization.
It also runs several cooperation-oriented programs for the community in the region among which there is the APNIC Policy SIG and the APNIC Fellowship.
Internet governance: APNIC is engaged in different Internet governance bodies and provides inputs to Internet policies and procedures across the world.
APNIC ensures sponsorship of the open, stable, and secure utilization of the Internet and the development of the Internet in the Asia-Pacific area.
APNIC is a not-for-profit organisation and its operational cost are financed through membership fees, training fees and other support from the community.
It has paramount relationships with other RIRs such as the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC), The African Network Information Center (AFRINIC) and the Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre (LACNIC).

APNIC is always on standby to support its members for instance by offering them guidance on issues to do with security and planning of networks.
The organization also undertakes research and survey on Internet issues and produces its reports and publications on various issues of Internet infrastructures, security, and policies.
Some of the services that it runs are authoritative DNS servers, reverse DNS servers and root server instances.
APNIC works with other organisations and interest groups within Asia Pacific towards the development of this market for Internet economics and for facilitating the Internet economies, social and enterprise value change processes among businesses, governments and communities in the area.

What is APNIC?

FAQs APNIC

What is APNIC?
This paper focuses on APNIC which is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) in the Asia-Pacific region. It is in charge for the distribution of the IP numbers and the ASN numbers as well as other resources in the region.

Which nations do APNIC cover?
APNIC address the countries in Asia-Pacific region which include Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea among others.

What service does APNIC offers ?
The following are the services offered by APNIC; IP address business: availability of IP space, ASN business: availability of AS Numbers, Training & Education services: for members and staffs, Technical services: DNS, WHOIS, K-root, IDF, RIR PROP, Multilingual domain and general information services and Research and Development services: to members and Internet community.

That brings us to question: who can join APNIC?
APNIC membership is also open to any organization or individual interested with it as long as they are qualified in the prescribed criteria.

What participation is offered by APNIC membership?
Membership of APNIC entitles the member to use the resource and services provided by APNIC such as IP address and ASN, technical support and training and education program.

The way through which APNIC allocates its IP addresses is actually one that will be explained in a few steps below.
The Addressing Policy Manual is the guideline that has been established and followed by the APNIC in the allocation of the IP address. These policies are normally developed through consultation with the APNIC community, as one of the policy development principles.

Hence the question is: What does the APNIC community need to do?
The APNIC community refers to the entire constituency of composed of the members and the other interested stakeholders who engage themselves in policy making processes and other related processes in the deployment, management and usage of Internet resources in the Asia Pacific region.

How is APNIC governed?
Currently, APNIC’s is administered by a Board of Directors that is charged with being elected by the members of the organization. The Board bears the responsibility of defining the strategic course of the organization as well as supervising the running of the organization.

How does APNIC contributes to the global Internet system?
It has an important function in the global Internet system, as an organizer of Internet numbers delegated to Indonesia and other Asia-Pacific countries, including IPv4 addresses and ASNs.

The APNIC Whois database is not defined simply as the model of Whois databases used by other organisations.
The APNIC Whois is a global database open to the public and contains the records of the IP address and ASN assignment in Asia-Pacific region.

In what ways does APNIC contribute toward the security and stability of the Internet?
These include being responsible for the management of IP addresses and ASNs allocations and distributions in the APNIC region and the provision of a forum where Internet stakeholders in the region can deliberate on issues of security and stability of the Internet as well as the provision of solutions to such issues.

What has the APNIC been doing towards promoting the adoption of IPv6?
IPv6, the next-generation Internet Protocol, is one area where APNIC is keen in promoting membership to. As a sort of educational and training tool, it offers training and educational services for organisations to upgrade to IPv6, as well as technical support and other tools.

In this section of the paper, it would be interesting to look at how APNIC interacts with governments as well as other stakeholders.
Based on the foregoing description, it could be deduced that APNIC collaborates closely with governments, industry associations and others with the view to fostering development of Internet within the Asia-Pacific region. It equally participates in policy formulation and lobbying on matters concerning its governing of the Internet and utilization of Internet resources.

What is APNIC Fellowship program?
The APNIC Fellowship program is aimed at supporting the representatives of developing economies to cover the expenses on attending the APNIC conferences and training sessions.

How has APNIC helped in capability of Internet infrastructural development in the region?
As stated, Internet development in the region depends on APNIC that offers technical assistance, training, and educational services, and other services to individuals and organizations that would like to conduct Internet-related projects.

Tags What is APNIC, Role of APNIC, APNIC Questions, APNIC Working The Internet (Issue), IP Address (Protocol), IPv6 (Protocol), IPv4 (Protocol), Asia-Pacific (Exhibition Subject), Regional Internet Registry (Organization Sector)

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