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16 June 2008
( pdf version available )
The longer investment is deferred, the greater the risk of
Internet growth slowing down and additional costs being incurred
Danger of arrested development: The
cost of migrating the Internet infrastructure to IPv6 will be
significant, but the cost of not making this investment will end up
being far higher.
Korea, 17th June, 2008 – The
Number Resource Organization (NRO), which is made up of the world’s
five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), AfriNIC, APNIC, ARIN,
LACNIC and the RIPE NCC, has issued an appeal for investment in
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) infrastructure. The global RIR
community will be represented by the NRO at the June OECD Ministerial
Meeting in Seoul, Korea, where it will support this urgent call.
The RIRs are responsible for managing the allocation, assignment and
registration of Internet number resources (IPv4 addresses, IPv6
addresses and Autonomous System (AS) Numbers).
With approximately 85% of all available IPv4 Internet addresses
already in use by May 2008, experts predict that the remaining
stock of unallocated IPv4 addresses will be consumed by around 2011.
This may have an impact on new Internet users and users of Internet
devices that are not IPv6 enabled. In contrast, the pool of
available IPv6 numbers will exceed 340 billion billion billion.
Internet addresses are allocated on an 'as-needed' basis. Firstly,
they are allocated to the RIRs from a central pool and then each RIR
distributes them within their region. This system prevents any one
country from running out of addresses significantly before its
neighbours within the same region, and ensures that the supply to all
regions is maintained for as long as possible.
Geoff Huston, Chief Scientist at APNIC will call for a significant
acceleration of investment in the infrastructure vital for effective
IPv6 adoption, as part of his speech on Internet industry challenges:
“At present, only a small percentage of the
Internet infrastructure supports IPv6. Significant investment in the
infrastructure of the network is required to enable the transition
from IPv4 to IPv6. The cost of migrating the Internet infrastructure
to IPv6 is significant when considering the global scope of the task,
but the cost of not making this investment will end up being far
higher. And, ultimately, it’s the end
user population who will have to bear this cost. The longer this
investment in IPv6 deployment is deferred the greater the risk of
costly fractures in the fabric of the network, and additional costs
being incurred.”
Axel Pawlik, Managing Director of the RIPE NCC states: “IPv6 is
vital to the Internet economy. In order to sustain this rapidly
growing, global industry, we urge all stakeholders
to help accelerate the widespread deployment of IPv6. We have already
seen the EU make a positive declaration of intent regarding IPv6
planning and we are confident that IPv6 space will provide a
platform for innovation in IP-based services and applications as long
as the infrastructure is in place.’
Tarek Mohamed Kamel, Minister for the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology, Egypt, is speaking alongside Geoff Huston at
the OECD Ministerial Meeting. Kamel comments: “The current
dialogue on IPv6 between global governments, business leaders,
technical experts and academics is crucial to ensure that users
around the world continue to benefit from the innovation that new
infrastructure and new Internet space will bring. Our efforts to
ensure the free and open access attributed to the development of the
Internet must be continued so that we can fully realise the benefits
in the near future.”
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Notes to Editors
About
the Number Resource Organization (NRO)
The NRO
serves as a coordinating mechanism for the five RIRs to act
collectively on matters relating to the interests of RIRs.
www.nro.net
About
the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs)Regional
Internet Registries (RIRs) are independent, not-for-profit membership
organisations that support the infrastructure of the Internet through
technical coordination.There
are five RIRs in the world today. Currently,
the Internet Assigned Numbers Association (IANA) allocates blocks of
IP addresses and ASNs, known collectively as Internet number
resources, to the RIRs, who then distribute them to their members
within their own specific service regions. RIR members include
Internet Service Providers (ISPs), telecommunications organisations,
large corporations, governments, academic institutions and industry
stakeholders, including end users.
The five RIRs are:
AfriNIC - Africa region
http://www.afrinic.net
APNIC - Asia and Pacific region
http://www.apnic.net
ARIN - Canada, many Caribbean and North Atlantic islands, and the United
States
http://www.arin.net
LACNIC - Latin America and parts of the Caribbean
http://www.lacnic.net/en/index.html
RIPE NCC - Europe, Parts of Asia and the Middle East
http://www.ripe.net
Each RIR
performs a range of critical functions including:
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The
reliable and stable allocation of Internet number resources (IPv4,
IPv6 and AS Number resources)
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The
responsible storage and maintenance of this registration data
-
The
provision of an open, publicly accessible database where this data
can be accessed
RIRs also
provide a range of technical and coordination services for the
Internet community.
Media contacts:
Renske
Law, Blaise Hammond or Lucie Smith, Racepoint Group
+44(0)020
8752 2274/ +44 (0)20 8752 3222
renske.law@racepointgroup.com / lucie.smith@racepointgroup.com/
blaise.hammond@racepointgroup.com
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