![Abilene Christian University; IPv4 Readdressing and Sale](https://brandergroup.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/abilene-christian-university-acu-495x400.jpg)
Project Scope & Planning
Mitel embarked on a journey to determine how to readdress, consolidate, and monetize our unused IPv4 addresses. After decades of M&A activity and an IPO and subsequent transition back to a privately-held entity, Mitel’s IPv4 space was fractured. Blocks of IP addresses were tied to different corporate entities within the Mitel umbrella, and in use worldwide by multiple teams for a range of products and services. In some cases IP addresses had been allocated and employed in such a fashion that larger contiguous IPv4 blocks were not free.
We had to asses how many total IP addresses were available, how many were actually being used and the amount we would need to keep for our future growth. We also spent considerable time working with ARIN and other registries to ensure consensus on proper corporate ownership, as well as aggregate addresses in a single ARIN org. Ultimately, after careful consideration, we created a plan to readdress and migrate clients to free up a large number of unused IP addresses. This project took our team multiple years and company resources to ensure accuracy, proper deployment, and confidence that the assets could be transferred unencumbered
Partner Selection & IPv4 Sales Strategy
We went through a rigorous process to find a trusted IPv4 Facilitator to provide guidance on the safe transferring and selling of IPv4 addresses. Mitel’s team conducted a series of interviews with organizations, and it immediately surfaced that Brander Group was the standout winner. We got the sense that their team were intimate industry insiders, pragmatic in their approach, and had a philosophy centered around building long-term relationships.
Competing organizations were dismissed as they seemed too transactional in nature, and didn’t provide supporting market studies that made a compelling case for market trends & accurate price predictions. Moreover, Brander Group’s team outlined a range of value-added tools, such as spam list reporting, identification and cleanup, that made us comfortable that their team was fully astute and cared both about sellers and buyers. Even more impressive, they had an understanding of routing and rDNS that would be required during this multiple asset sales process.
The clincher was when they offered to work with our Legal department to ensure that we had properly proven chain of custody with ARIN on IPv4 address subnets that were obtained through acquisition, even before we officially brought Brander Group on as a partner. After officially signing with them, the entire process was all extremely impressive, well-run, responsive, and smooth.
Successful Results Over Time
After multiple stage process, our team was able to free up several IP address blocks ranging in different sizes from /22s up to /16s. Mitel sold several large blocks of addresses through Brander Group, with more on the horizon, and was able to leverage good market prices to realize useful funds.
Moreover, the initiative resulted in a more compact, manageable, and documented inventory of IP address space. In addition to the general benefit that this conveys, it has helped the Mitel Network Team run a more organized network, ultimately conveying positive impact on the overall service that Mitel provides.
![Michael Erde Mitel](https://brandergroup.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Michael-Erde-Mitel-e1708743926827-180x180.jpeg)
123,000
IP Addresses Relocated to Others
Organization
Manageable & documented IPv4
3 years
To consolidate & organize