IPv6 deployment around the world

The first IPv6 deployments began in 1996 from which emerged the 6bone IPv6 test bed network (www.6bone.net/) now spanning over 50 countries and 1000 sites. Commercial IPv6 deployments are happening, led by Japan, and in countries where IPv4 address allocations have been historically low (particularly in Asia).

In Japan, during an extraordinary Diet session in the autumn of 2000, the Japanese government announced that it would actively pursue solutions for global issues on the Internet, and would work in the hope of making a significant global contribution to the development of the Internet through IPv6.

The Japanese government further mandated the incorporation of IPv6 and set 2005 as the deadline for the upgrading of existing systems in every business and public sector. In particular, the government’s “e-Japan Priority Policy Programme” foresees that by 2005, an Internet environment will have been built that will allow all Japanese people to obtain, process and transmit information they desire easily, promptly and safely, wherever they are.

Pilot projects are being implemented that rely on IPv6 technology and its ability to let devices keep their addresses as they switch from network to network Photo: Ericsson (ITU 020035)

Furthermore, an IPv6 Promotion Council was established with members from the public and private sectors and tasked with the realization of the e-Japan Priority Policy Programme. This programme makes the assumption that for “net home appliances” where refrigerators, microwave ovens and others are all connected to the Internet, each appliance needs to be allocated an IP address. Japan sees IPv6 as one of the ways of helping the country leverage the Internet to rejuvenate its economy. The country’s IPv6 budget amounts to some JPY 8 billion in the amended fiscal 2001 budget and 2.2 billion in the initial budget for fiscal 2002.

Pilot projects are already being implemented that rely on IPv6 technology and its ability to let devices keep their addresses as they switch from network to network. One such project was launched in February 2001 in Yokohama, where some 300 vehicles ranging from taxis, service trucks to public buses were continuously connected to the Internet. This project allowed users to monitor traffic conditions by detecting their car’s speed, road conditions by how many times they used the anti-lock brake system and the weather by the movement of the windshield wipers.

Japan has blazed the trail for other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. On 22 February 2001, the Republic of Korea followed in the footsteps of Japan by announcing plans to roll out IPv6. China and Japan have held bilateral consultations, at ministerial level, to promote IPv6.

In the United States an industrial initiative towards the establishment of a North American IPv6 Task Force was launched in December 2001.

In the European Union (EU), in comparison with the Asia-Pacific region, the commercial roll-out of IPv6 was marginal and essentially limited to test beds. This motivated the European Commission to launch in April 2001 its industry-led IPv6 Task Force with a very broad representation of key actors in the mobile communications and Internet fields.

On 29 January 2002, the IPv6 Task Force released its report in which it puts forward a number of recommendations to the EU Member States, the European Commission and industry at large. Entitled IPv6 2005 Roadmap Recommendations: Internet for everyone, the report goes beyond the concerted action required to structure, consolidate and integrate European efforts on IPv6 and calls for:

• An increased support towards IPv6 in public networks and services.

• The establishment and launch of educational programmes on IPv6.

• The adoption of IPv6 through awareness raising campaigns.

• The continued stimulation of the Internet take-up across the European Union.

• An active contribution towards the promotion of IPv6 standards work.

• The integration of IPv6 in all strategic plans concerning the use of new Internet services.

On the basis of a Communication from the European Commission (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2002/com2002_0096en01.pdf) the European Council, which met on 15 and 16 March 2002 in Barcelona, confirmed the priority which Europe attaches to the development of IPv6.

So far, the European Commission has spent over EUR 75 million funding a wide variety of research projects on information society technologies, including the two recent large-scale test beds: Euro6IX and 6NET, in a bid to accelerate validation, testing and deployment of the IPv6 technology across Europe.

ITU in its quest to keep its membership informed will hold a tutorial workshop on IPv6 in Geneva on 6 May 2002 (http://www.itu.int/ITU–T/worksem/ipv6/index.html). The workshop will be organized by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU–T) to provide information to facilitate discussion on the requirements for the successful global implementation of IPv6. In this regard, the workshop is expected to discuss “the reasons for migrating to IPv6, the costs and benefits involved, the issues associated with the migration and provide ideas for solutions to those issues”.