IPv6 Now: Thoughts from a New Internet IPv6 Hall of Famer

[ServicesExperts]

More than seven years have gone by since the official World Launch Day of the new Internet protocol. HPE expert Yanick Pouffary looks at what IPv6 has achieved and how it benefits businesses.

Yanick Pouffary, HPE’s Distinguished Technologist and Chief Technologist for IoT and Intelligent Edge Services, was recently nominated to the New Internet IPv6 Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to the design and large-scale deployment of IPv6 around the world. Transforming IT editor John Cummings caught up with Yanick to get her thoughts on what the new Internet protocol has accomplished, and what’s next.

John Cummings: Congratulations on this prestigious recognition!

Yanick Pouffary: Thanks! It’s quite humbling really. I am very proud to have been named among the top IPv6 experts and evangelists. IPv6 is absolutely key to taking the Internet to the next level.

John: Where are we now with IPv6 deployment?

Yanick: We have run out of IPv4 addresses; nearly all of the 4.3 billion addresses have been allocated. Every enterprise, every organization, every connected device that relies on the Internet to communicate needs an Internet Protocol address to communicate. With the growing number of smart, connected devices, the exhaustion of the current IPv4 address space is a major barrier. Our hyper-connected, edge-to-cloud world is growing exponentially, and the current IPv4-based Internet, simply put, can no longer sustain this explosive growth.

Organizations of all kinds need to understand that there is no alternative – the move to IPv6 is inevitable. IPv6 preserves everything that’s good in today's Internet and adds much more. With its virtually unlimited IP address space (340 trillion, trillion, trillion unique addresses!) IPv6 is key to connecting everything and everyone and sustaining the ongoing growth of our industry.

John: How widely used is IPv6 now?

Yanick:  Adoption is widespread in many large countries, including India, the United States, Germany and Japan. China is not listed among the leading countries, since the tools to measure deployment levels are not able to assess the situation there accurately, but we have seen evidence that points to large scale deployment of IPv6 services in that country.

Many mobile service providers have transitioned. Most cell phones and computers use IPv6 by default. Large corporations have deployed IPv6, and many governments have policies and transition strategies in place.

John: If a company hasn’t turned on IPv6 yet, what are some good reasons to do so?

Yanick: IPv6 will continue to grow exponentially, and the time to adopt is right now. The worst mistake would be to believe that one can wait, which might put your enterprise at a competitive disadvantage. The legacy IPv4 Internet can no longer grow. Enterprises that rely on the Internet, but haven’t made the move to IPv6, will not be able to communicate with the rest of the Internet.

What we have learned is that successful deployment is best powered by a holistic plan or roadmap which aligns the technology with the business. IPv6 deployment needs to be part of companies’ digital transformation strategy. While there’s no single recipe for the transition, the worst scenario is to be in reaction mode.

One last point – companies that are deploying IPv6 should look at it as a way to break free of IPv4’s limitations. You can take advantage of IPv6 features such as enhanced mobility, automated management, built-in multicasting for multimedia applications, enhanced security, simplified administration, and many more.

Learn more about HPE Digital Transformation Services here.

Yanick Pouffary is HPE Distinguished Technologist and Chief Technologist for IoT and Intelligent Edge Services. Yanick helps organizations develop strategic visions and technology services roadmaps for IoT and network. She is a strategic advisor to governments, enterprises and service providers on digital transformation technologies such as IoT, software-defined networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and IPv6. Yanick is a founding member of the IPv6 Forum and an IPv6 Forum Fellow.