What is IPv6 Transition

The IPv6 Transition Programme

The IPv6 Transition Programme is a national effort spearheaded by IDA in its role as the national planner for Infocomm development, to address the issue of IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) exhaustion and to facilitate the smooth transition of the Singapore Infocomm ecosystem to IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6). Developed by the Singapore IPv6 Task Force, it involves a two-pronged approach to drive IPv6 adoption in the nation as well as encourage the efficient use of the remaining pool of IPv4 addresses to minimise the risks of depletion.

Under the programme, IDA has embarked on a series of activities including IPv6 awareness drive and industry engagement to ensure that the Singapore Infocomm ecosystem is prepared for a smooth transition to IPv6. Moving forward, IDA will also encourage IPv6 adoption to accelerate readiness.

Background on IPv6 and the issue of IPv4 exhaustion

The Internet has become a ubiquitous part of everyday life and business, and participation in that space requires a unique identifier known as an Internet Protocol (or IP) address. IPv4 uses 32 bits for each IP address, which allows for about 4.3 billion permutations. However, with the exponential growth of the Internet, these IP addresses are being consumed rapidly.. On 3 Februray 2011, Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) depleted its free pool of IPv4 addresses by allocating its final five /8 blocks of IPv4 addresses to each of the five Regional Internet Registries per global policy. On 15 April the same year, Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) announced that Asia Pacific - comprising of Singapore and fast growing Asian countries became the first region to dip into its final block of IPv4 addresses. This initiated a major change in regional delegation policy to conserve remaining IPv4 addresses, which will significantly hinder and limit the growth of the Internet and its associated economic benefits.

IPv6 is the long-term solution to the issue of IPv4 exhaustion. With its 128-bit addressing capability, it will be able to offer a theoretical maximum of about 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses. Apart from addressing the key issue of IPv4 exhaustion, IPv6 also paves the way for benefits such as simpler and more efficient routing, end-to-end connectivity,better traffic prioritization and is a better enabler for new technologies such as the smart meters, intelligent buildings and advanced peer-to-peer solutions.

Activities

Under the IPv6 Transition Programme, a series of activities have been organised to accelerate preparation and readiness for IPv6 in Singapore. They include:

Mapping out Singapore IPv6 landscape
The issue of IPv4 exhaustion and the transition to IPv6 will have varying degrees of impact on different stakeholders in Singapore's Infocomm ecosystem. To identify and address the critical IPv6 issues, IDA commissioned Analysis Mason and Tech Mahindra to carry out an IPv6 Readiness Survey to assess the infrastructure readiness of key stakeholders, their business dependence on IPv6, and the progress they have made in moving towards IPv6. The survey report was released in January 2011.
Setting up an IPv6 network technology pilot
An IPv6 technology pilot was conducted to evaluate the viability of deploying an IPv6 network using industry open standards. The main objective of the pilot is to understand and validate the feasiblity of implementing the various IPv6 transition mechanisms and to find out the challenges and benefits involved in each approach. The six-month pilot was conducted by BT Frontline and completed in December 2010.
Developing reference specifications and transition guides
In February 2011, the IPv6 Task Force released the Singapore IPv6 Profile which was developed in collaboration with industry partners to facilitate stakeholders in the procurement of IPv6-enabled products and services. The profile defines a common "working language" to help organisations understand the requirements that are needed from their hardware and software infrastructure in order to meet IPv6 baselines and activities.

IDA also commissioned Analysys Mason and Tech Mahindra to develop an IPv6 Adoption Guide for each category of stakeholder identified in the IPv6 Readiness Survey . The guide, which was published in March 2011, describes the key steps required during the transition to IPv6 and the technical options and approaches that are available to different stakeholder groups.
Engaging stakeholders
The IPv6 Task Force conducted a series of executive briefings and conferences to raise awareness among stakeholders of the need to monitor and actively manage their utilisation of existing IPv4 addresses, and to encourage them to actively plan for IPv6 transition and the adoption of IPv6 technologies. This will help minimise the impact of IPv4 address exhaustion on the growth of new Internet businesses. More such activities are planned in the coming year.
Developing IPv6 capabilities
Infocomm professionals equipped with the necessary skill sets play a vital role in facilitating the transition to IPv6. To assist the industry in building up the talent base, IDA has identified crucial IPv6 skill sets for inclusion in the updated National Infocomm Competency Framework. This will serve as a guide to the local industry in developing IPv6 capabilities in Singapore. In the move to kick-start development of IPv6 talent pool, IDA had appointed a training provider in August 2011 to train a sizeable pool of ICT professionals and students. IDA is actively working with the major institutes of learning (IHLs) such as the polytechnics and universities in Singapore. There has been an increasing demand from companies sending their staffs to IPv6 training.
Establishing an IPv6 Marketplace
IDA has set up an IPv6 Marketplace which provides end-user organisations with a source of information on IPv6-ready solutions that are available in Singapore. By aggregating the contact information of solution providers, IPv6-ready solutions and pricing information, the marketplace helps organisations in sourcing and budgeting for their Infocomm procurements.
Setting up IPv6 industry exemplars
Since June 2011, IDA has started collaborating with local high traffic-driven websites to enable their websites' contents and services with IPv6. The initiative is to kick-start local IPv6 contents and ensure the availability of the end-to-end IPv6 services by increasing IPv6 readiness of the various players (such as ISPs/RSPs, hosting providers, etc) in Singapore ICT ecosystem.
Other activities
IDA will continue to work with the Infocomm ecosystem on new programmes and activities to catalyse the adoption of IPv6 in Singapore. It is also monitoring market developments to assess if further measures are needed to aid the transition. Industry bodies and general public are welcomed to provide feedbacks for IPv6 transition programme by forwarding them to [email protected] .