Date:07/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/07/stories/2009060760161300.htm
Front Page Not much planning for IPv6 migration K. Srinivas Reddy All IP addresses under IPv4 will be exhausted by 2011 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Japan has already made 60 per cent of its networks version 6-compliant "Organisations need to either upgrade networks or phase them out" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hyderabad: Humans and electronic devices have some things in common. Like humans, the devices do have their own identities and talk to each other, albeit in the language of binary digits. The only difference is that humans share names, but the devices can't. They need to have unique identities, what techies call Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which could extend up to 12 digits, every three digits (an octet) separated by a dot, something like 202.53.12.140. As a matter of rule, the upper limit for digits in each octet is 255 as per the binary logarithms (32-bit) adopted for what we call now Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), which came into existence in 1970. Mathematically, the total number of unique IP addresses that can be generated in IPv4 can't be more than 4.3 billion and this is where the problem arises now. With a staggering growth in use of electronic gadgets, nearly 95 per cent of IP addresses are already assigned. Considering this growth by 2011, all the addresses would be exhausted. That projects a scary scenario indeed. Any gadget, be it a printer or a 3G phone or an office network can't operate as there won't be a unique ID left for them. This is where the next version, IPv6 with a different system has already been developed. The IPv6 would have addresses with eight octets (128-bit), each having four digits interspersed with letters (alphanumeric). The total number of IP addresses that could be generated in IPv6 would be a staggering "340 trillion trillion trillion" against a meagre 4.3 billion in IPv4. While the latest version is not a replacement for IPv4, their interoperability is to be ensured with a '6 to 4 network.' While the developed countries have already begun efforts to have this network to make the older networks to communicate on the new version, no noteworthy effort is being done in India to facilitate the smoother transmission. While advanced countries have already begun the efforts, India is lagging behind and this could be a costly mistake" says Kusumba S, the former director of the APNIC, the body responsible for assigning IP addresses in 54 countries in the Asia Pacific region. "It is not an overnight process. It involves assessment of current infrastructure for its compatibility with IPv6. Organisations need to either upgrade the networks or phase them out. The effort has to begin now," says Mr. Kusumba. If Japan has already made 60 per cent of its networks version 6-compliant, India stands at a dismal 90th position in the world. "Imagine a scenario of an ISP functioning on IPv6 and a company's network being incompatible. The company can't log onto the ISP network. It's imperative that government networks, banking industry, telecom networks ... everyone would have to start planning now and be ready for migration and this is not happening in India." The Government of India had created a task force for facilitating migration to IPv6, but like any governmental agency, it still remains a company. To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
