[kictanet] IPv6 addresses: North American ISPs are now grabbing for them over IPv4

[alice at apc.org]

IPv6 addresses: North American ISPs are now grabbing for them over IPv4
By Carolyn Duffy Marsan
Created 2009-10-19 02:29PM

U.S. ISPs are requesting more IPv6 [1] addresses and fewer IPv4 addresses
than ever before -- a sign that carriers are investing in the future
amidst one of the deepest recessions[2] in modern history.

The shift in IP address requests shows that North American carriers are
getting ready for the long-anticipated upgrade [3] of the Internet's main
communications protocol from IPv4, the current standard, to the
next-generation IPv6.

[ What U.S. businesses are missing [4] in their slow move to IPv6. |
Despite businesses' faint interest, the shift to IPv6 [5] is seen as an
inevitable | Keep up on the latest networking news with our Technology:
Networking newsletter [6]. ]

IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and can support 4.3 billion individually
addressed devices on the Internet. IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses and
supports an inconceivably huge amount of devices: 2 to the 128th power.
IPv6 also offers built-in security and enhanced network management
features when compared to IPv4, which is expected to run out [7] of
address space by 2012.

In the first nine months of 2009, the American Registry for Internet
Numbers (ARIN [8]) received 300 requests from carriers for blocks of IPv6
address space. This compares to 250 requests received in all of 2008 and
2007.

"We're seeing an uptick in IPv6 address space requests; it's a very
significant growth rate," says John Curran, president and CEO of ARIN.
"We've seen a slight slowdown in IPv4 address space requests
It's probably
dropped off 10 percent or 20 percent year over year."

Curran says ARIN is beginning to see ISPs such as Comcast [9] and Verizon
Wireless [10] put a great deal of effort into migrating from IPv4-based
networks to those built using IPv6.

"ISPs are asking for IPv6 addresses so they can make their networks
IPv6-enabled so they are ready [for the future]," Curran says. "We give
each ISP enough IPv6 addresses to support 4 billion networks, and each
network can contain trillions and trillions of hosts."

Curran says the recession is not hampering carriers' interest in IPv6.

"IPv6 solves a problem that hasn't happened yet. So seeing any demand is
surprising, and it means that organizations are planning ahead," Curran
says. "The current weakness in the economy
is not dampening down IPv6
demand significantly because IPv6 is right around the corner for ISPs. We
may be two years away from the IPv4 free pool of addresses running out,
but two years if you're an ISP is enough time to get one network deployed.
Two years is within everyone's planning horizon."

ARIN will detail the latest statistics about IPv6 address demand in North
America at a policy meeting [2] that will be held this week in Dearborn,
Mich.

ARIN also will discuss several proposed policy changes related to IPv4
depletion and the push towards IPv6 adoption. These include:

    * Allowing ARIN to https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2009_8.html
[11] ">reduce the size of IPv4 address space allocations to carriers
as the industry gets closer to IPv4 address depletion.
    * Increasing access to IPv6 [12] address space by removing the
requirement for carriers to first demonstrate that they have hundreds
of customers.
    * Allowing carriers to run multiple, discrete IPv6 networks [13] that
don't have to be connected to each other, such as community networks.
    * Reconsideration of a current policy that requires the regional
registries including ARIN to evenly divide up any IPv4 space [14] they
are able to recover.

ARIN will hold elections at this meeting for several open board of
trustees and advisory council openings.

    * Networking
    *  IPv6
    *  Internet