Re: The Department of Work and Pensions, UK has an entire /8

[Alex Brooks <askoorb+nanog () gmail com>]

On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 3:17 PM, Paul Thornton <prt () prt org> wrote:
> On 18/09/2012 15:07, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> > http://paritynews.com/network/item/325-department-of-work-and-pensions-uk-in-possession-of-169-million-unused-ipv4-addresses
> >
> > Department of Work and Pensions UK in Possession of 16.9 Million Unused
> > IPv4
> > Addresses
>
>
> The only slight snag in his argument is that the addresses are not unused.
> Not announced != Not used.

And for the definitive answer on this block, the official response is:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/internet_protocol_ipv4_address_a and
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/internet_protocol_ipv4_address_a_2

> 1. We can confirm that the address block is assigned to the DWP.
>
> 2. In principle, none of the address space is exposed to the public Internet.
> There may be a very small number of addresses that have been exposed for
> specific purposes, but certainly no significant block of addresses is visible
> from the public Internet.
>
> 3. The address space is already shared across government. We have used or
> allocated approximately 80% of the address space, and have earmarked the
> remaining space for use within the proposed Public Services Network (PSN).
> The PSN is building an Internet for government, and the DWP address space
> is a key building block for delivery of this.
>
> 4. DWP have no plans to release any of the address space for use on the public
> Internet. The cost and complexity of re-addressing the existing government
> estate is too high to make this a viable proposition. DWP are aware that the
> worldwide IPv4 address space is almost exhausted, but knows that in the
> short to medium term there are mechanisms available to ISPs that will allow
> continued expansion of the Internet, and believes that in the long term a
> transition to IPv6 will resolve address exhaustion. Note that even if DWP were
> able to release their address space, this would only delay IPv4 address
> exhaustion by a number of months.

And for 25.0.0.0 to 25.255.255.255 the response from the Ministry of Defense is:

> I can confirm that the IPv4 address block about which you enquire is assigned to and
> owned by the MOD; however, I should point out that within this block, none of the
> addresses or address ranges are in use on the public internet for departmental IT,
> communications or other functions.  To date, we estimate that around 60% of the IPv4
> address block has been allocated for internal use. As I am sure you will appreciate, the
> volume and complexity of the Information Systems used by the Armed Forces supporting
> military operations and for training continues to develop and grow.    We are aware that the
> allocation of  IPv4 addresses are becoming exhausted, and the issue has been recognised
> within the Department as a potential future IS risk.
> In summary, therefore, we are unable to consider releasing parts of the address block that
> has been allocated to the UKMOD for reassignment to non-UK Government organisations.