With the massive deployment of Internet-related resources worldwide and the integration of IP-enabled consumer devices connected directly to the network, the issue of the depletion of IPv4 addresses is becoming pertinent. Indeed, there is wide recognition of the need for better awareness of the availability of IPv4 addresses and the deployment of IPv6.

Despite the use of network address translation (NAT) as a strategy for reducing the use of public IPv4 addresses, several experts forecast depletion in the next few years. In addition to other features, IPv6 with its 128 bit address space is aimed at addressing the current shortage of public IPv4 addresses. However the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is going at a rather slow rate, with both versions being used in parallel. Many informed observers attribute this to market forces and other economic considerations.

There is growing interest in IPv6 especially among the organizations involved in its management. ITU is organizing this workshop in order to foster dialogue and international cooperation on IPv6 related issues.

The workshop will provide a platform for dialogue where key players in the field, including all ITU sectors, as well as other interested entities will be able to discuss and address international public policy issues on the migration to IPv6, as well as the economic aspects related to IP address allocation.

The workshop is designed to stimulate discussion and interaction with the audience, rather than a string of presentations and speeches provided by panelists and speakers.

Participation from developing countries is strongly encouraged.

Relevant outputs from the workshop will be further studied as appropriate within ITU.
 

The workshop will address some of the key issues, in particular the following questions raised in contributions to ITU-T Study Group 3:

1. What economic or tariff incentives could be put in place in order to make sure that IPv4 addresses allocated by the RIRs are used efficiently, when they are not any longer used; that they are given back to the global community; and are not hoarded?
2. What are the direct and indirect costs related to fraud, spam, etc. that is facilitated because of NATing and other techniques currently used to conserve IPv4 addresses, because those techniques make it more difficult to trace the origin of particular packets or E-Mail messages?
3. What are the costs of migration to IPv6, in particular for developing countries, for example for:
   • Capacity building
   • New equipment (routers, etc.)
   • Configuration (e.g. maintenance of dual-stacks, tunnelling, etc.)
4. What, if any, are the network externalities involved in the migration from IPv4 to IPv6?
5. What would be the economic or tariff effects if a secondary market is created for IPv4 addresses (that is, allowing current holders of IPv4 addresses to sell them to other organizations)?
6. What would be the impact — in particular for developing countries, taking into account that tariffs should be cost-oriented — of the growing scarcity of IPv4 addresses and of a), b) and c) above on:
   • Settlement rates for voice traffic that is carried over IP networks at the wholesale (backbone) level
   • International Internet connectivity (IIC) (ITU-T Recommendation D.50)
   • Termination rates for IP telephony
   • Next generation networks (NGN)

Other questions will be addressed as appropriate.

Related Information	Documentation & Registration
General Information Organised by: ITU Venue: ITU Headquarters, Geneva Practical Information Hotel bookings at preferential ITU rates Getting to ITU Related Topics, Study Groups, Organizations ITU-T Study Group 2 ITU-T Study Group 3 ITU-D Study Group 2 Number Resource Organization Regional Internet Registries AfriNIC APNIC ARIN LACNIC RIPE	Convening Letter (CL-89) Advance Programme Final Report Webcast Workshop Documents for discussion List of Participants Past workshops and seminars on Ipv6 Workshop on IPv6 ITU Headquarters, Geneva, 22 - 23 June 2005 Tutorial Workshop on IPv6 ITU Headquarters, Geneva, 6 May 2002  Supported by: