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.
