SubscribeWith the supply of current Internet addresses predicted to run out by the end of next year, India has issued orders for a transition to a new Internet protocol. Last week, the Indian government said all Internet service providers and telecommunications providers must be IPv6-compliant by the end of next year, and all government agencies and public-sector companies will need to switch by March 2012.
When the ISPs and telcos make the change, they can only offer IPv6 service, meaning the entire country will be compelled to upgrade. India in particular could be hard hit by the coming scarcity of Internet addresses because of its upcoming roll out of 3G and other broadband wireless services in the second most populous market on earth.
IPv4 Has ‘Served Well’
Last week, the Indian Department of Telecommunications issued the new road map. “The current Internet protocol IPv4 served well in the last 25 years,” said Minister of State for Communications Sachin Pilot, “but it has practical limitations.”
John Curran, president and CEO of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, told news media last week that the supply of unique addresses will run out in about a year. ARIN is a nonprofit that handles the distribution of IP addresses in North America.
According to Curran and others, the nearly 4.5 billion addresses in the current Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) has only about six percent of its available addresses left for new devices.
Three main factors are behind the upcoming shortage. One is the explosion in web access from multiple devices for each user, primarily in developed countries. Each of those smartphones, laptops, tablets, desktops and other devices that access the web require a different IP address. And the demand for device addresses is increasing rapidly, with TVs, game consoles, even automobiles beginning to offer web access.
‘Mandatory in the U.S.’
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Via NewsFactor
Yacine.org: India Tells Internet Service Providers To Move To IPv6 http://bit.ly/c8nOxG
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