Industry Support and Trends

IPv6 is not just a new technology to replace the existing IPv4 protocol or simply a new trend developed by engineers around the world. IPv6 represents the normal evolution of the Internet for the next decades. In the long term, the main goal of IPv6 is to provide a global standard allowing electronic communication networks and devices such as computers, PDAs, cell phones, televisions, satellites, industrial machines, and so on to be interconnected within the same global digital network.

The work to achieve that goal is currently huge and difficult to figure out. The deployment of IPv6 around the world requires the full support of and efficient collaboration between research, industry, governments, standards bodies, and local and international IPv6 leaders. This section discusses industry support and trends for IPv6. IPv6 is promoted and driven by the IPv6 Forum, 3G industry, and several regional initiatives supported by governments, such as 6NET, the European IPv6 Task Force, the Japan IPv6 Promotion Council, and the North American IPv6 Task Force.

IPv6 Forum

The IPv6 Forum is an international consortium of leading industries and research and educational networks. More than 100 members are involved in the IPv6 Forum, representing industries such as manufacturers, providers, and end users.

The main goal of the IPv6 Forum is to promote IPv6 by improving market and user awareness of IPv6. The IPv6 Forum does not design any standards or specifications for IPv6 because that responsibility is assumed by the IETF.

The IPv6 Forum has formed alliances with other international consortia:

• ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (www.etsi.org/)

• UMTS Forum (www.umts-forum.org)

• 3GPP Project (www.3gpp.org/)

• Wireless Communications Association International (www.wcai.com/)

6NET

6NET is a European project launched to demonstrate that the continued growth of the Internet can be sustained on a very large scale using the new IPv6 protocol. The 6NET project aims to make European research and industry the world leader in the development of the networking technologies' next generation. More specifically, the main objectives of the 6NET project are the following:

• Deploying an international pilot IPv6 network based on 155 Mbps and increasing to 2.5 Gbps with static and mobile components to gain expertise on IPv6 deployment issues

• Testing migration strategies for IPv6 networks with the existing IPv4 infrastructure

• Introducing new IPv6 services and applications

• Collaborating with standardization bodies (IETF, 3GPP, ITU) and promoting the IPv6 technology

European IPv6 Task Force

The European IPv6 Task Force was launched in 2001 by the European Commission. The European IPv6 Task Force currently is in its second phase. The first phase allowed the task force to gain expertise in and awareness of IPv6. The task force's main objectives are the following:

• Promoting the development of applications that will make a real business case for IPv6. The home service and transportation industries are targeted.

• Promoting IPv6 for European research and industry and meeting European industry leaders and government officials.

• Increasing support for IPv6 in public networks and services.

• Organizing educational activities about IPv6.

• Integrating IPv6 in all strategic plans regarding new Internet services to be offered in Europe.

• Collaborating with standardization and Internet governance bodies such as ISOC, IETF, ICANN, ITU, RIPE NCC, 3GPP, ETSI, IPv6 Forum, ETNO, UMTS Forum, and GSM Europe.

Japan IPv6 Promotion Council

The e-Japan Priority Policy Program, established in 2001, states that Japan will realize an Internet environment equipped with IPv6 by 2005. Everyone in Japan will be able to receive, share, and transmit information securely, promptly, and easily over IPv6 regardless of location. The Japan IPv6 Promotion Council is an initiative launched by the Japanese government to facilitate IPv6 cooperation with nongovernment organizations in Japan. The main objectives of the Japan IPv6 Promotion Council are as follows:

• Gathering wide-range intelligence from enterprises, government bodies, organizations, and personal users

• Assuming international leadership within the field of Internet deployment

• Developing human resources to maintain and develop an advanced information and telecommunications network society in Japan

• Creating and supporting new businesses related to hardware and software associated with networks and terminals

• Promoting IPv6 for Japanese research and industry

North America IPv6 Task Force

When you look at the number of aggregatable global unicast IPv6 prefixes registered by the RIRs in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., you can see that North American research and industry are far behind Asia and Europe in the number of organizations that have received an IPv6 address space. This is why Asia and Europe have begun the early adoption of IPv6 and have initiated IPv6 task forces to deploy, test, and promote IPv6 and add new IPv6 services before North America.

In North America, people are probably less aware of IPv6 simply because the IPv4 shortage has not yet begun. This is not the case in Asia and Europe, where getting IPv4 address space is difficult and costly in several countries.

In 2002, the North American IPv6 Task Force was launched to be the North American counterpart of the Asian and European IPv6 task forces. The main objectives of the North American IPv6 Task Force are as follows:

• Writing Best Current Practice documentation for the deployment of IPv6 in North America

• Testing and evaluating migration strategies for IPv6 networks within Enterprise networks

• Developing next-generation applications

• Working on wireless and broadband deployments within North America

• Organizing IPv6 training and seminars

• Collaborating with standardization bodies (IETF, 3GPP, ITU) and promoting IPv6 for the North American military and research industries

3G

3G stands for the third generation of wireless communication technology. The 3G aims to standardize wireless platforms, allowing the integration of voice calls, fax, e-mail, videoconferencing, radio, mapping, and so on in a global roaming environment in full interaction with the Internet. The 3G technology should allow data rates up to 2 Mbps for any mobile device, compared to 144 Kbps with the 2.5G (GPRS) or 10 Kbps with the 2G (GSM).

Obviously, the wireless devices for the 3G are based on an IP stack. Because the number of 3G devices to be manufactured in the next years is so huge (several billions of devices), the 3G standards bodies adopted IPv6 as the de facto IP stack for the 3G technology:

• UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)— UMTS is the European brand name for the 3G. It bases its architecture on IPv6. The 3GPP is the body responsible for the evolution of the current GSM systems into 3G (UMTS). 3GPP coordinates with the IETF.

• CDMA-2000 (Code Division Multiple Access)— CDMA-2000 is the North American brand name for the 3G. It bases its architecture on IPv6—more specifically, on Mobile IPv6. The 3GPP2 is the body responsible for the evolution of CDMA One systems into 3G (CDMA-2000). 3GPP2 coordinates with the IETF.

IPv6 also received a clear commitment from wireless vendors such as Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and NTT.

People in the industry have to change their minds about IP, because the IPv6 protocol is not only designed to provide addresses and standards to computers on networks. The applicability of IPv6 is global to any electronic device. It is not limited to computers.

As discussed in this section, the 3G is another important driver for IPv6.

Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF)

The Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF) was founded in 2000 to drive acceptance and adoption of mobile wireless and Internet architectures. The MWIF works on 3GPP and 3GPP2 architectures that are based on the IPv6 protocol. Here are the main objectives of the MWIF:

• Publishing studies, discoveries, and conclusions about mobile technologies.

• Working to harmonize between 3GPP and 3GPP2's core network architecture. The core network of both architectures is specifically based on IPv6.

• Promoting the vision of influencing global wireless industry standards that improve interoperability of mobile technologies.

Governments

IPv6 is an emerging standard at an early stage of commercial deployment. For some countries, IPv6 represents an opportunity to place their industries at the forefront of this market.

More specifically, the Japanese government introduced tax incentives for IPv6 in its 2002 budget. The Japanese government is interested in attracting manufacturers and enterprises that will develop new technologies to be compatible with IPv6.

The European Commission made a clear commitment to IPv6 by providing funding and by recommending that the European industry base its new generation of products and technologies on IPv6.

In North America, an IPv6 task force that includes the U.S., Canada, and Mexico has been launched to encourage the use of IPv6 in the industry as much as possible. The U.S. military is one of the leading organizations participating in this task force.