IPv6 - Pressure growing on industry to act

IPv6 - Pressure growing on industry to act

Media Release – 14 April 2011

2011 is turning into a crunch year for adopting the new standard for Internet addressing, called IPv6. At the same time, with zero Government funding, industry groups are under increasing pressure. The New Zealand IPv6 Task Force and InternetNZ (Internet New Zealand Inc) are stepping up to the challenge but are calling for more help.

The number of IPv4 Internet addresses available to countries in the Asia Pacific region, which includes New Zealand, has reached a critically low level. APNIC – the regional organisation that allocates addresses – now expects to exhaust its remaining supply of IPv4 addresses within weeks.

New Zealand IPv6 Task Force Convenor Murray Milner says there appears to have been “a run on the bank”. He says the speed at which APNIC’s reserves have been depleted has taken many by surprise.

Milner says that “2011 is the crunch year for Internet addressing. Now is the time for organisations to act to adopt IPv6 on their networks.”

The IPv6 Task Force has taken a leadership role in supporting adoption of IPv6 in New Zealand. It offers valuable assistance to industry sectors to minimise risk and cost of IPv6 adoption, in the face of IPv4 exhaustion.

The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has discontinued funding of the IPv6 Task Force, preferring a purely industry-led response instead. InternetNZ has been a consistent supporter of the IPv6 Task Force and has therefore increased the amount of funding it provides to help plug the gap.

“The efforts of the Task Force are critical to the future growth of the Internet in New Zealand,” says InternetNZ Chief Executive Vikram Kumar. “We have stepped up our annual funding of the Task Force by about 30% to $90,000 to enable it to continue its fantastic efforts.

“However, even with that, the Task Force really needs the wider industry to pitch in. Many industry organisations and individuals are making a significant contribution but now is the time to respond to the dual challenge of zero Government funding and imminent IPv4 address exhaustion,” he says.

“Now is also the time for Government to act as a leader in deploying IPv6. I acknowledge that the Government will not go down the path of forced implementation or setting target dates as has done by some other countries. There is some great work being done in leading by example but there is room for more, such as publication of an IPv6 roadmap for Government departments.”

Organisations are urged to contact the Task Force for more information and for assistance in kick-starting their own IPv6 planning and implementation processes.

ends

© Scoop Media