Jun 25, 2011

World IPv6 Day Starts, Enterprises Unprepared


The world’s largest carriers, providers and websites are now turning to IPv6, the next-generation Internet protocol needed to solve the impending shortage of addresses.
Most enterprise networks, however, have other things in mind, according to CompTIA’s survey, which revealed only 23% of US business IT departments employing the new Internet protocol.
While only less than half explored or asked for IPv6 support, fortunately, IPv6 debuted this week as a 24-hour trial run where it will coexist with the existing IPv4 protocol, so most users should not face any kind of trouble.
This trial will allow Internet users to discover and experience how ready they are for the ensuing exchange.
From Tuesday to Wednesday evening in the U.S., the Internet Society sponsored World IPv6 day runs throughout Wednesday as measured by GMT, where major Internet companies such as Google, Facebook, and Yahoo! will run their web servers using IPv6 for Internet users to try the new protocol.
In addition, U.S. carrier Verizon also commits to back the historic event, which practically means that many Internet users will have access to servers even without the IPv4 protocol.
For an easier testing procedure, various websites dispatched browser-based scripts that attempt to reach the World IPv6 Day participants through IPv6, automatically informing users how prepared their systems and Internet connections are for the event.
If you want a fast test using ten common sites, the Internet Society itself recommends test-ipv6; but for detailed results, you could use Netalyzer, a Java applet from the International Computer Science Institute.
Many Internet users will expectedly have trouble in using IPv6, as the new protocol must be enabled every step of the way, including the ISP connection, any transitional routers, the browser and servers.
Thus, all participating sites and carrier networks in World IPv6 day has to be “dual-stacked” or supporting both the IPv6 and IPv4 versions of the protocol.
While this week’s trial run only features one day of dual-stacking, it will have a key role when the actual transition to IPv6 happens, as many networks and servers will need dual-stacking for years.

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