The Internet industry is approaching a major milestone as IPv4 addresses worldwide are expected to run out in a matter of months. Here in Singapore, even though IPv6 promises innovations and business opportunities, adoption is still in its infancy.
The problem, it seems, is a lack of understanding of the applications that IPv6, as an infrastructure, can bring about. As Mr Lawrence Hughes, author of "Second Internet", put it: "If you don't have a car, you don't need roads."
Mr Hughes was speaking to a crowd of about 250 guests, comprising mostly technology professionals from both public and private sectors at the IPv6 conference organised by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), at Hotel Fort Canning on 31 July.
The key to driving adoption of IPv6, he says, is to find new applications that are enabled by it and get businesses to see how these applications can benefit them.
True peer-to-peer applications are much easier to create and deploy without some of the restraints of IPv4, like Network Address Translation (NAT), which can translate a single public Internet Protocol (IP) address into many private addresses.
Without the need for such intermediaries, Dr Hughes says that the implications are incredibly exciting for network and application developers.
Echoing his sentiment was Mr Nick Hawkins, Director of Technology Consulting Group from Polycom who shared with the audience improvements in voice and video quality delivered using IPv6. This is because IPv6 unlocks the true potential of peer-to-peer, end-to-end connectivity of open Internet. Teleconferencing, for example, will offer a life-like conferencing experience-owing to the advantages of the IPv6 protocol.
Due to the improved connectivity, especially between mobile devices, mobile applications look set to drive a wider adoption of IPv6 by offering enhanced functionality, and a user experience previously not possible with IPv4.
Currently, China and India boast the highest numbers of Internet users in Asia. However, with Internet penetration rates at only
38.4 per cent and 10.2 per cent
respectively, this offers a huge opportunity for IPv6 growth when the rest of the population gains access to the internet in the coming years.
Dr Lim Joo Ghee, who lectures at Singapore Polytechnic, also presented an array of product innovations that could benefit healthcare, transportation, building management and various industries.
With IPv6 becoming the standard for communication protocol of smart objects, smart objects can connect and "speak" to each other directly. For example, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and Internet Protocol for Smart Objects (IPSO) Alliance included IPv6 as part of their standards for connected devices, allowing all their devices to communicate with each other over a common protocol.
Standardisation enables more industry players to freely innovate products and services that are interoperable. To enterprises, this means that operations like monitoring of structures or agriculture growth will be more effective than before.
Within homes, IPv6 allows appliances to be remotely controlled, which will encourage the development of numerous related consumer products.
Staying alive with IPv6
Even if you are not venturing into product innovations, IPv6 is essential to keep your business operations running, argued Tom Coffeen, an IPv6 evangelist at InfoBlox.
If your business is unprepared, your business may face stiff competition. As consumers eventually move to IPv6 addresses, their user experience will be affected if you are unable to connect to their devices directly. Consumers may instead turn to alternative sources for services.
International Internet players including Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and SoftLayer are companies that have already deployed IPv6.
Besides delivering a seamless consumer experience, businesses can make use of the IPv6 deployment as a chance to refresh their business operations.
As network design and IP management systems need to be relooked during an IPv6 transition, it presents a good opportunity for businesses to look out for a new and more efficient operation model.
IP address management, for example, could improve operations by "tying all the systems together and making the network work for you", shared Richard Hyatt, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of BlueCat Networks.
A robust management system is especially relevant in this age where many users are concerned with mobility. As the "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) trend takes off, more companies could see their employees using their own mobile devices for work and it is important to be able to track the devices that enter the system.
Start early for a smoother transition
Dr Alex Caro, Chief Technology Officer of Akamai noted that deployment rates around the world are rising, with Europe showing steady progress, particularly in France and Romania. The US is also making headway, with key internet service providers pushing hard for IPv6 adoption.
Google's statistics
suggest IPv6 traffic expanded 4 times in last year alone, while
Ericsson's "Device Revolution"
predicts that the Internet will grow to 50 billion connections of connected people and devices by 2025.
IP is facing three major interdependent points at the same time
, according to Dr. Ciprian Popoviciu, Nephos6 President and CEO.
Imagine a three-tiered pyramid with the transition to IPv6 at its base, representing the scalability of the infrastructure. Stacked above it is the adoption of cloud computing, which is an agile platform. Completing the pyramid is applications, which rely both on IPv6 adoption and the power of cloud computing.
The growth of cloud computing and the applications they support is a boon to IPv6, added Dr. Popoviciu. The scalability offered by IPv6 combined with the agility of cloud computing will result in innovative new applications and middleware a future not possible with IPv4.
Sharing lessons from the implementation of IPv6 over the past 3 years, Dr Caro encouraged businesses to start looking at other technical aspects of IPv6 adoption like staff training, noting that the IPv4/IPv6 hybrid Internet is likely to stay put for a few years.
For example, he is optimistic that some of the early hiccups of IPv6 adoption, like addressability issues, will be resolved by a systematic migration. "When naming is right, many problems go away," he said.
Mr. Coffeen cautioned businesses not to fall into the trap he calls 'The Enterprise IPv6 Death Spiral'. He urged businesses to begin planning for IPv6 now, start small and learn on-the-go in their transition towards IPv6.
During an open question-and-answer session, many asked about how IPv6 should be implemented. Mr Hughes suggested that companies start with an IPv6 readiness audit early and experiment.
Mr Hyatt agreed he likened the IPv6 transition to a "mini Y2K project that would stretch over the next 10 15 years" and stressed the importance of starting early.
Ultimately, IPv6 will eventually take over and early adoption will make the transition smoother and gives businesses a head start to explore new markets.