IPv6 the next big step for Internet in Asia

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA:Leading Internet experts from around the world are gathered in Kuala Lumpur to address one of the most important Internet developments currently underway in the region.

Led by the Internet Society, in collaboration with the Asia Pacific IPv6 Task Force and the Malaysian National Advanced IPv6 Centre of Excellence, the INET Asia Regional Conference has brought together influential regional and international experts from industry, government, the technical community, and the private sector under the theme “IPv6: The next step”.

Implementing IPv6 will ensure Internet-based services will continue to reach the ever-growing number of people around the world with access to the Internet. Until now, most of the Internet has used IPv4 addresses.

However, with the free pool of IPv4 expected to be depleted within a couple of years, the need to increase deployment of the far more abundant IPv6 addresses is growing everyday.

“The technical community has been pushing for the move to IPv6 for many years now,” explained Rajnesh Singh, manager of the Internet Society’s Regional Bureau for Asia.

“In the last year or so, the need to deploy IPv6 has become an issue that has received widespread media and public attention, and the level of awareness on IPv4 to IPv6 transition issues has now become mainstream.”

A high-level event such this highlights the potential for business, industry, and governments in this region to show strong leadership in the next stage of global IPv6 adoption and deployment.

During the event, diverse speakers will share critical knowledge and expertise on the business and economic perspectives of IPv6, future applications and services that can evolve and benefit from IPv6, and important IPv6 success stories from the region.

Internet evangelist promotes IPv6 to Web world

TOKYO, JAPAN, LUXEMBOURG & BOSTON, USA: The IPv6 Forum and its sub-organization, the IPv6 Ready Logo Committee, announced the introduction of a new IPv6 Enabled Logo Program: aimed at testing and validating Web sites (WWW) for IPv6 readiness and adoption.

"This program is a good step in the right direction. IPv6 needs to be integrated in all Web sites," states Dr. Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google, and Honorary Chair, IPv6 Forum.

The IPv6 Forum IPv6 Ready Logo Program: has clearly demonstrated the widespread support of IPv6 in products. The impressive list of vendors indicates the number of potential IPv6 users ready to use IPv6 and represents a real incentive for Web site owners to enable IPv6 access for their customers. The IPv6 Forum has been tracking the adoption of IPv6 by Web sites and recognized the need for a quality assurance logo program for the Web world. The creation of the new logo program will support IPv6 deployment on Web sites with the goal of sustaining quality IPv6 solutions.

"The launch of the IPv6 Enabled WWW Logo Program: is another strategic milestone that signals good integration of IPv6 for Web sites must be sustained to build the new Internet infrastructure," states Latif Ladid, IPv6 Forum President.

"The Web was the first killer app of the IPv4 Internet and no doubt it will be one of them for the IPv6 Internet," states Yanick Pouffary, NAv6TF Technology Director, IPv6 Forum Fellow and advisor to the IPv6 Ready Logo Program.

"We recognize the fact that the market needs the IPv6 Enabled WWW Logo to accelerate the introduction of IPv6 technology," states Hiroshi Esaki, Chairman of the IPv6 Logo Committee, Executive Director of IPv6 Promotion Council Japan and Board member of the WIDE Project.

Liu Dong, Chair China IPv6 Council, commented, "We deployed this IPv6 Logo Program to foster deployment of IPv6 for the Web world and we are looking forward to a positive response."

For "free" testing and registering your Web site, please visit the IPv6 Enabled WWW Logo Program : Web site: www.ipv6forum.com/ipv6_enabled.

Packet Design's Route Explorer adds IPv6 support

ANTA CLARA, USA: Packet Design has added support for IPv6 to Route Explorer, its network management system that gives enterprises and service providers visibility into routing operations on their IP networks. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) developed IPv6 to replace the existing version, IPv4, which faces address-space limitations as Internet usage continues to grow.

With the new IPv6 capability, Route Explorer, which works by passively "listening" to routing protocol exchanges and computing a real-time, network-wide layer-3 topology, will now be able to monitor and analyze IPv6 networks, as well as those running IPv4. This information will enable network engineers to quickly identify and resolve problems, perform effective network maintenance, and do accurate change planning on increasingly complex networks that incorporate both versions of the protocol.

Route Explorer's IPv6 support is initially available for BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) and IS-IS (Intermediate System to Intermediate System), two routing protocols used widely by service providers. Support for IPv6 on the OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) routing protocol will be added later this year, followed by Cisco's enterprise-oriented EIGRP (Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol) in 2010.

"With the Internet expanding to encompass everything from phones to appliances, the use of IPv6 and its greatly expanded address space will become a necessity," said Jeff Raice, Packet Design's executive vice president of marketing and business development.

"While few organizations today have moved exclusively to IPv6, many are beginning to deploy it in parallel with IPv4 as they prepare their networks to support next-generation standards and heavier traffic volumes. Companies in the Far East and a growing number of service providers worldwide are taking the lead in this area, and migration to IPv6 is mandated for the US federal government. Since many of these organizations use Route Explorer to troubleshoot and plan their networks, it was critical for us to begin supporting IPv6 before it moves fully into the mainstream.

"Based on the market demand we've seen, IS-IS and BGP are most important for early adopters of IPv6, who are chiefly service providers. We will later add support for OSPF and EIGRP, as well as providing specialized variations such as 6PE, VPNv6 and 6VPE for providers of VPN [virtual private network] services," he added.

IPv6 support for the IS-IS and BGP protocols is available immediately as a $5,000 option with version 7.5 of the Route Explorer software.