IPv6 Growth Increases 300 Per Cent in Two Years

Internet Governance Forum, Hyderabad, India, 3 December 2008 - The Number Resource Organization (NRO), which is made up of the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), announces today that the rate of new entrants into the IPv6 routing system has increased by approximately 300 percent over the past two years. This growth has been helped by the active promotion of IPv6 by the five RIRs and their communities1; and developing economies, such as India, are playing an increasingly important role in generating demand for global IPv6 deployment.

"What we are now seeing is an acceleration in IPv6 activity on the Internet, clearly indicating the start of production deployment in many parts if the world," says Paul Wilson, Chair of the NRO. "We are also seeing a rapid increase in allocation of IPv6 addresses, reflecting an increasing readiness for imminent deployment. These developments are due to the work of all global stakeholders in assembling the resources necessary for IPv6 adoption."

He adds: "For those yet to deploy, there is still time for a planned and cost-efficient transition to IPv6. The fact that we have not seen this so far is a conscious decision by parts of the industry rather than a failure on anyone's part, but the time for active planning is now."

Adiel Akplogan, AfriNIC CEO, comments: "Just as many developing economies have leapfrogged the extensive wired telephone network with wireless, new networks and developing economies can bypass IPv4-only networks. Instead, they can incorporate IPv6 from the start, avoiding much of the transition cost. It is essential, however, that equipment vendors provide IPv6 upgrades and functionality at minimal extra cost, and that those whose products do not yet provide IPv6 support should develop upgrades without delay."

The RIRs work together at global and regional levels to promote transition to IPv6 and prepare strategies to manage the distribution of the remaining unallocated pool of IPv4. The open, multi-stakeholder approach of the RIRs has enabled the recent adoption of a global policy for the allocation of the remaining IPv4 address space. It guarantees that each RIR receives one of the last five blocks of IPv4 address space. The policy originated from the two RIR communities with the greatest percentage of developing economies, AfriNIC and LACNIC, and reflects the need for developing economies to have access to the remaining IPv4 addresses as their networks mature.

The NRO is advising participants at the IGF that Internet stakeholders, including governments, vendors, enterprises, telecoms operators and end-users, have a role to play in IPv6 transition, and is encouraging the following actions:

• The business sector should start to support IPv6 by hosting content on IPv6-enabled websites, ensuring accessibility to IPv6 users.
• Software and hardware vendors should implement IPv6 support in their products urgently, to ensure they are available at production standard when needed.
• Governments should learn more about IPv6 transition issues in order to support IPv6 deployment efforts in their countries. IPv6 requirements in government procurement policies are critical at this time.
• Finally, civil society, including organisations and end users, should request IPv6 services from their ISPs and vendors, to build demand and ensure competitive availability of IPv6 services in coming years.

The NRO is proud to be releasing this statement in India, host to IGF 2008 and one of the fastest growing Internet communities in the world. As well as contributing to regional and global discussions and activities to address IPv4 exhaustion and the transition to IPv6, Indian stakeholders sit on the APNIC Executive Council, and represent the Asia Pacific IP addressing community on the global NRO Number Council.

NRO representatives will be speaking at two major sessions on Critical Internet Resources at IGF 2008 in Hyderabad:

December 5 9:30 - 11:00
Critical Internet Resources: Global, Regional, and National
December 5 11:00 - 12:30
Critical Internet Resources: Transition from IPv4 to IPv6

The NRO will urge all participants in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to continue supporting the current multi-stakeholder Internet address management structures to ensure that the Internet continues to function in a stable and secure manner during the period leading up to IPv4 exhaustion and beyond.

For the full NRO statement, please visit:
http://www.nro.net/news/nro-press-release-ipv6-growth-increases-300-in-two-years

Notes to Editors

About the Number Resource Organization (NRO)

The NRO exists to protect the pool of unallocated Internet numbers (IP addresses and AS numbers) and serves as a coordinating mechanism for the five RIRs to act collectively on matters relating to the interests of RIRs.

About the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs)

Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are independent, not-for-profit membership organisations that support the infrastructure of the Internet through technical coordination. There are five RIRs in the world today. Currently, the Internet Assigned Numbers Association (IANA) allocates blocks of IP addresses and ASNs, known collectively as Internet number resources, to the RIRs, who then distribute them to their members within their own specific service regions. RIR members include Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecommunications organisations, large corporations, governments, academic institutions, and industry stakeholders, including end users.

The RIR model of open, transparent participation has proven successful at responding to the rapidly changing Internet environment. Each RIR holds one to two open meetings per year, as well as facilitating online discussion by the community, to allow the open exchange of ideas from the technical community, the business sector, civil society, and government regulators.

The five RIRs are:
AfriNIC - Africa region
APNIC - Asia and Pacific region
ARIN - Canada, many Caribbean and North Atlantic islands, and the United States
LACNIC - Latin America and parts of the Caribbean
RIPE NCC - Europe, Parts of Asia and the Middle East

Each RIR performs a range of critical functions including:

• The reliable and stable allocation of Internet number resources (IPv4, IPv6 and AS Number resources)
• The responsible storage and maintenance of this registration data
• The provision of an open, publicly accessible database where this data can be accessed
• RIRs also provide a range of technical and coordination services for the Internet community.

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