Spotlight

Vendor Community Well Prepared, says IPv6 Readiness Survey

13 April 2011 - A survey of IPv6 readiness in Singapore found that hardware and software suppliers are well-prepared for the transition to the new more inclusive version of the Internet protocol, and there will be IPv6-ready options available when organisations make the transition.

Given the impending exhaustion of the current IPv4 addresses, IDA commissioned a research survey to assess the readiness of the industry to move to IPv6. Conducted by Analysys Mason and Tech Mahindra, the comprehensive study focused on key Internet stakeholders including multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises, hardware and software vendors, Internet service providers, telecom operators, data centre operators, content providers, hosting services, and government agencies. The aim was to examine their infrastructure readiness, dependency on IP addresses for their business, and the progress they have made in planning and implementing IPv6.

The IPv6 readiness survey found varying degrees of readiness depending on the stakeholder group, with the vendor community comprising hardware and software vendors being the most ready. All vendors included in the survey had plans in place for IPv6 adoption across their product portfolio and had the required level of skills to develop and support these products.

For the hardware vendors, which tended to be focused on routers, switches and servers, this meant incorporating features such as DNSv6 and DHCPv6 and having network management software that support IPv6.

For software vendors, most business oriented products were IPv6 ready including enterprise management products like directory, email servers and database management systems, web infrastructure applications, unified communications and collaboration products, and content management software.

While many of the other stakeholders were less well developed in terms of an IPv6 programme, the availability of such IPv6-compliant products is an important step that enables the smooth adoption of IPv6 in business.

The findings of the Singapore IPv6 readiness survey are consistent with that of recent international studies carried out by the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), European Commission (EC) and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

For example, like the Singapore survey, the OECD study found that much of the IPv6 technology set was found to be operationally ready. However, a large proportion of the Internet remained only IPv4-capable. This was echoed in the EC and APNIC findings.

Common hurdles to IPv6 deployment were also cited in all the surveys. These included the perceived lack of customer demand for IPv6 and a shortage of IPv6 skillsets among technical staff. However, the studies also noted that many of these issues could be addressed through awareness programmes and training.

Besides the IPv6 readiness survey , an IPv6 adoption guide has also been published based on the findings of the Singapore study to guide stakeholders in their transition to IPv6. These initiatives follow the successful completion of an IPv6 pilot in December this year to test the implementation of transition mechanisms that allow IPv4 and IPv6 systems to interoperate.