Address Supporting Organization
ASOis the acronym for ”Address Supporting Organization” and represents one of the supporting organizations which according to ICANN Bylaws was formed through community consensus. The main objective of ASO is to review and develop Internet Protocol (IP) recommendations, address policy and advise the ICANN Board. [1]
Short overview
Simply put, ASO works a support organization of ICANN. It was created in 1999 and the members of ASO represent the Address Council. Representative from each of the five RIR (Regional Internet Registries) are part of ASO and two of these members are the nominated within the ICANN Board of Directors.
ASO History
The development of ASO started in July 1999 when the three RIR (Regional Internet Registries) which existed then, APNIC, ARIN and RIPE NCC decided to submit their proposal for the creation of ASO on the basis of Memorandum of Understanding (where the purpose of scope and ASO are being mentioned as well as the composition and action of Address Council). Next, on August 26th year 1999 ICANN approved the proposal so that on October 18th the ASO was created when the representatives of APNIC, ARIN, RIPE NCC and ICANN signed the MoU. WhenLACNIC was recognized as an RIR and was created, its representatives also signed the MoU – this happened in October 30 year 2002. The Memorandum of Understanding was modified and signed between ICANn and the Number Resource Organization(NRO) which signed on behalf of all RIRs – this occurred in October 21st year 2004. When ICANN decided to recognize AfriNIC as the fifth RIR at worldwide level, the representatives of AfriNIC also signed the MoU as well as with the NRO in order to become a NRO member. [2] These are the most important events and moments of the creation and development of ASO.
ASO Address Council
The composition of the Address Council is made of members of NRO Council (Number Resource Organization). In order to understand the global policy development process there are plenty of documents and explanations related to the process description where there are mentioned the implications of RIR, ASO, ICANN and other such organization within the development process. The main responsibilities of ASO Address Council are listed below:
- Fulfilling its role in the global policy development process based on the requirements included in this process;
- Maintaining communication with ICANN and providing recommendations related to various policies and RIR recognition;
- Ensuring full support, guidance and advice for ICANN’s Board related to the allocation policy for number resource;
- The development of procedures for business management and support their responsibilities especially in the case of Address Council Chair. [3]