RIPE Community Resolution on IPv4 Depletion and Deployment of IPv6

26 October 2007 - During the RIPE 55 meeting in  Amsterdam, the RIPE community agreed to issue the following statement on IPv4 depletion and the deployment of IPv6.

"Growth and innovation on the Internet depends on the continued availability of IP address space. The remaining pool of unallocated IPv4 address space is likely to be fully allocated within two to four years. IPv6 provides the necessary address space for future growth. We therefore need to facilitate the wider deployment of IPv6 addresses.

While the existing IPv4 Internet will continue to function as it currently does, the deployment of IPv6 is necessary for the development of future IP networks.

The RIPE community has well-established, open and widely supported mechanisms for Internet resource management. The RIPE community is confident that its Policy Development Process meets and will continue to meet the needs of all Internet stakeholders through the period of IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 deployment.

We recommend that service providers make their services available over IPv6. We urge those who will need significant new address resources to deploy IPv6. We encourage governments to play their part in the deployment of IPv6 and in particular to ensure that all citizens will be able to participate in the future information society. We urge that the widespread deployment of IPv6 be made a high priority by all stakeholders."