ARIN 58 Day 2 Recap

By Christina Paladeau – Social Media and Content Specialist

We’ve concluded the second and final day of the ARIN 58 Public Policy and Members Meeting! We loved connecting with friends old and new under the Miami sun and online; thank you to all who participated and helped make this another productive and engaging event.

To reference anything you’ve seen at the meeting, visit our meeting materials page. Over the coming days, links to the full transcript and webcasts will be added to this page as well. In the meantime, here’s an overview of what happened on day two.

A Night in Little Havana

Last night, in-person attendees traveled to the iconic Ball & Chain on Calle Ocho for the ARIN 58 Social. Surrounded by the music and energy of Little Havana, attendees enjoyed dinner, live Latin music and dance, and plenty of time continuing conversations sparked by the meeting and making new connections across the community.

Sunrise on Biscayne Bay

Ashley Perks, Communications Manager, started the morning with a warm welcome, a thank you to our elected volunteers, and participation reminders, along with a round of applause for our meeting sponsors: Amazon Web Services, AT&T, Secure64, Flashstart, IPv4.Global by Hilco Global, and Verisign.

Hearing From the Community

Adam Wedlake of Radius Insights kicked off the presentations by sharing the results of the 2026 Customer Satisfaction Survey. Conducted 21 May-22 June 2026, the survey gathered 930 completed responses and follows earlier waves in 2014, 2017, 2020, and 2023. Key findings included:

• A broader community. This year’s respondents were more professionally diverse and less tenured than in previous waves.
• Recognized for innovation. ARIN scored above the average technology company on both the American Innovation Index (73) and the Social Innovation Index (70.4), with the largest gain in social innovation (up 9.1 points since 2023).
• Room to grow. The biggest opportunities lie in reducing friction in the member experience, particularly responsiveness, clear information, request processes, and website navigation.

During Q&A, attendees asked about unified API access for RPKI route objects, while ARIN Advisory Council member Kaitlyn Pellak emphasized how this edition of the survey having the most responses in more than 12 years should be celebrated.

Securing the Routes

Brad Gorman, Director of Customer Technical Services, was up next with the Routing Security Update. As of 30 September, 9,673 organizations have registered for Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI) at ARIN, up 27 percent in one year. However, Brad emphasized that registered is not the same as protected: Roughly 1 in 7 Hosted RPKI organizations has yet to create a single Route Origin Authorization (ROA). He also shared that 3,389 Autonomous System Provider Authorizations (ASPAs) have been created across the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), including 685 at ARIN, and that all five RIRs will support ASPA creation by the end of 2026. Brad previewed ARIN’s new RPKI “BGP Insight” feature, which helps organizations understand how their RPKI configuration affects their route announcements, and highlighted ARIN’s instructor-led Deep Dive RPKI training workshop.

Balancing the Books

Hank Kilmer, ARIN Board of Trustees Treasurer, presented the Financial Report. He reviewed the work of the Finance Committee along with ARIN’s 2026 year-to-date financial performance through August:

• Revenues: $21.3 million, 1 percent below budget
• Operating expenses: $21.8 million, 3.8 percent under budget
• Operating deficit: $0.5 million, $0.6 million better than budget
• Investment income: $1.9 million, $0.6 million above budget, with the long-term investment fund earning 5.2 percent
• Financial position: total investments of $38.5 million, $12.5 million above the target operating reserve of $26.0 million; total assets of $56.0 million and net assets of $29.4 million

Hank also outlined ARIN’s long-term financial plan, which aims to achieve a balanced budget by 2030 through annual Registration Services Plan price increases of up to 5 percent and careful management of year-over-year spending. In the meantime, annual deficits will be funded from investments, allowing ARIN to reach that goal without reducing services to the community.

Cleaning Up the Registry

John Sweeting, Chief Experience Officer, delivered the Data Accuracy Update on ARIN’s program to bring legacy resources under agreement and resolve unknown holder data. As of Q3 2026, legacy space not under agreement has dropped to 372,877 /24 equivalents, an 81 percent reduction since Q1 2024. John noted that Q4 2025 saw the largest single-quarter change in the program’s history, when 2,768 legacy prefixes totaling 1.28 million /24 equivalents came under Registration Services Agreements. Much of the remaining work centers on 715 /16 blocks that together hold 49.1 percent of the legacy space still not under agreement.

Advancing IPv6

Next up, Lee Howard, ARIN Board of Trustees, introduced the IPv6 Task Force formed by the Board this year. Lee explained that IPv6 adoption is no longer mainly a matter of awareness, so the Task Force will focus on helping organizations identify and overcome practical obstacles to deployment. Its work includes recommending the structure of an ARIN IPv6 program, exploring a community tool for peer support with IPv6 problems, and defining metrics of success.

The Future of Directory Services

After a quick final break, Hollis Kara, Director of Communications, took the stage to present the ARIN Directory Services Roadmap, sharing the path forward following ARIN’s community consultation on directory services, held 14 August-14 September:

• RWhois: Commenters raised no objection to retirement. ARIN will develop a migration tool, then begin a 365-day countdown to retirement once the tool is public.
• Whois-RWS web interface: An Advanced RDAP Search beta is in development and will run alongside the current service for at least six months before a sunset date is set.
• Whois-RWS API: Once the remaining RDAP parity questions are resolved, the sunset will proceed as scheduled for July 2027.
• Port 43 WHOIS: Port 43 drew the most debate, with 24 of 43 substantive comments opposing retirement or asking for a much longer transition. ARIN heard that feedback and will keep the service running, monitor RDAP adoption, and consult the community again once key milestones are reached.

Building Trust

Christian Johnson, Chief Information Security Officer, delivered the Information Security Update. He reviewed ARIN’s SOC 2 compliance program, which includes 217 security controls, and shared 2026 progress, including 100 percent completion of annual and new-hire security training, monthly phishing defense training and vulnerability scanning, and preparation to add ARIN Online to the SOC 2 program. Upcoming initiatives include enhanced monthly vulnerability scan reviews, background checks for all staff, and ARIN’s annual penetration test in Q4. Christian also highlighted the reorganized ARIN Trust Center and the Information Security at ARIN page, where organizations can download ARIN’s SOC 3 report.

Open Microphone

To wrap things up, John Curran and Nancy Carter hosted a final open microphone session. Questions and comments touched on the intersection of AI and policy development, including for posts on the Public Policy Mailing List; the ARIN Board’s IPv6 Task Force; and the nature of volunteer roles at ARIN.

Ashley Perks then officially closed ARIN 58, thanking our sponsors once more for their support: platinum sponsor, Amazon Web Services; network sponsor, AT&T; silver co-sponsors, Secure64 and Flashstart; exhibitor sponsor, IPv4.Global by Hilco Global; and espresso bar sponsor, Verisign.

Until We Meet Again

That’s a wrap on ARIN 58! Thank you to everyone who participated — in person at the InterContinental Miami Hotel and virtually via Zoom and our YouTube livestream. You can read the ARIN 58 Day 1 Recap, and all slides from ARIN 58 are available on our ARIN 58 Meeting Materials page. Webcasts and transcripts will be posted in the coming days.

Want to keep the conversation going? Join the Public Policy Mailing List (PPML), subscribe to the ARIN Blog, and follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and X for ongoing updates. And if you attended ARIN 58, please complete the meeting survey — your feedback helps us make every meeting better.

And mark your calendars for the next ARIN Public Policy and Members Meeting, ARIN 59, in Cleveland, Ohio, on 11-14 April 2027. Stay tuned to the ARIN Blog, follow us on social media, and subscribe to the ARIN Announce mailing list for information on registration and applications for the Fellowship Program in the new year.

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