[Apnic-announce] Shift to IPv6 to accelerate as global IPv4 exhaustion nears
_______________________________________________________________________
Shift to IPv6 to accelerate as global IPv4 exhaustion nears
_______________________________________________________________________
Four out of five Regional Internet Registries have reached
their final pool of IPv4 addresses
APNIC today repeated its call for organizations to begin progressing
their plans to move to IPv6 – the next generation of Internet addressing
– after North America’s Regional Internet Registry (RIR), ARIN, reported
it had reached its final pool of available IPv4 addresses.
ARIN’s announcement today, coupled with the Latin American registry,
LACNIC, reaching its final pool of IPv4 addresses in March, means that
four of the five RIRs globally have now reached their final ‘/8’ block
of addresses. APNIC was the first to reach its final /8 in April 2011
and was closely followed by the RIPE NCC, the RIR for Europe, in
September 2012.
Paul Wilson, Director General of APNIC, said the pending exhaustion of
available IPv4 addresses comes at a time when demand for Internet
addresses is only set to accelerate.
“The Internet has become a vital part of our lives and is continuing to
expand across the Asia Pacific. Not only do we have millions of people
coming online for the first time in developing economies around the
region, but in developed economies we are seeing an increasing variety
of devices connecting to the Internet – whether it be phones, cars,
household appliances or industrial machinery,” he said.
“Industry predictions on the growth of devices connecting to the
Internet vary dramatically – anywhere from 26 billion to 200 billion
devices will be connected by 2020. With roughly only 3.7 billion unique
IPv4 addresses available for use on the Internet, it’s clear that
organizations worldwide need to continue their shift to the next
generation of IP addressing, IPv6, if they are to avoid future
constraints on Internet access and negatively impacting their
operations.
“The need to move to IPv6 has been known for many years but many
organizations have opted to defer the investment until it is really
necessary. IPv4 address space exhaustion means that time is fast
approaching.”
IPv6 usage, as measured by Google, is accelerating. Currently 3.4% of
Internet traffic is carried by IPv6, up from 2.5% in January 2014 and 1%
in January 2013. By the end of 2014, IPv6 traffic is predicted to hit
10% as IPv6 investments continue from large online businesses such as
Facebook, which recently announced it plans to have 100% of its network
infrastructure using IPv6 by 2017.
“Forward looking organizations that rely on the Internet should no
longer be waiting for the shift to IPv6 to happen – it is happening now.
Rather than investing in more technology to help extend the life of
IPv4, organizations in the Asia Pacific must turn their investments
towards the transition to IPv6 in earnest. The good news is that costs
can be minimized by planning ahead, for instance by ensuring IPv6
capabilities are gained within the normal hardware and software upgrade
cycles.” Mr Wilson said.
“There is no doubt IPv6 will drive Internet growth into the next
decades, and centuries. If you depend on the Internet, then you will
depend on IPv6 as a critical part of your business. Now is the time to
be asking those who provide you with Internet services and expertise –
whether they are ISPs, vendors, data centres, developers, staff, or
consultants – how they will support IPv6 services for you in the future.
If they have no answer, it may be time to find another.”
For more information on IPv4 and IPv6, visit:
http://www.apnic.net/ipv6
For a simple guide to Internet addressing, visit:
http://www.apnic.net/ip-booklet.pdf
________________________________________________________________________
APNIC Secretariat secretariat@apnic.net
Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) Tel: +61 7 3858 3100
PO Box 3646 South Brisbane, QLD 4101 Australia Fax: +61 7 3858 3199
6 Cordelia Street, South Brisbane, QLD http://www.apnic.net
________________________________________________________________________
* Sent by email to save paper. Print only if necessary.