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By Ike Suarez, Correspondent
The present number of Internet addresses in the
world is expected to run out soon; therefore there is a need for
steps to tackle this issue by migrating to IPv6, the technical
standard that will enable continued growth of Internet use in the
future.
An Internet address is the equivalent of a
telephone number and is expressed numerically (eg. 192.168.1.0,
etc). Quite often, it is what underlies the URL expressed verbally
through http://www. Majority today follow technical standards set by
IPv4.
Speakers, led by Internet founding father Vinton
Cerf issued the warning Wednesday at the start of the two-day 2008
IPv6 Summit at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila organized by the Advanced
Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) of the Department of Science
and Technology (DOST).
The event was held to jumpstart initiatives in
the Philippines for the migration by telecommunications companies,
Internet service providers, and computer network operators to the latest
Internet protocol.
In a pre-recorded “inspirational message” to
the conference participants, Cerf stressed that all networks linked to
the Internet will eventually have to migrate to the IPv6 protocol,
as Internet addresses are expected to run out in 2011. His message
was shown on two large screen projectors.
Cerf, who designed many of the Internet’s
technical standards over the years starting in the late 1960s,
advised that the transition be done via the dual-track strategy. By
this, he meant that telco operators, ISPs, and network operators
maintain the present crop of IPv4 addresses they have assigned to
users.
At the same time, they would now have to start
assigning IPv6 addresses as well.
He said this was because IPv6 and IPv4 were not
backward compatible, meaning that they could not immediately link
with each other. Enabling such would require additional software.
He said in the near future there would be a
total shift to IPv6; because this technical standard enabled greater
and more possible uses of the Internet, including those that have
yet to be developed.
At the same time, after 2011, expanded Internet
use via IPv4 would now be impossible. Thus, new Internet subscribers
could no longer be connected through this standard.
At the conference, the Philippine Network
Operators Group president, who spoke in behalf of Asia-Pacific
Network Information Center chief scientist Jeff Houston said IPv4
addresses would run out by January 22, 2011. One possible scenario
arising from this would be emergence of markets selling IPv4
addresses retailing at very high prices.
The Brisbane-based APNIC is a non-profit
organization that issues Internet addresses in Asia-Pacific, which
are distributed in the region’s various countries. Its task has
been given it by the Internet Assigned Names Authority (IANA) based in
Marina del Rey, California.
At the event, IPv6 Forum president Latif
Ladid said that among the drivers causing the exhaustion of IPv4
addresses was the explosive growth in mobile Internet devices. He
added that within five years all mobile phones, which now number 4
billion globally, would be Internet-enabled.
Speaking later with reporters, he said that IPv6
could handle 340 decillion Internet addresses. IPv6 Forum is based
in Luxembourg and is a nonprofit that advocates use of this
technical standard.
In a brief talk with The Manila Times, ASTI
Director Dennis Villorente said an exhaustion of IPv4 addresses
could stall the progress of the Philippines as the country makes
centerstage in today’s global outsourcing services.
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