The IPv6 Portal News

Representatives of 42 member states in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued a declaration in which they expressed their support for the next-generation internet protocol.

At its Ministerial Meeting on the Future of the Internet Economy, held in Seoul, Korea, on Wednesday, the organisation said the switch to the new version of IP was necessary to connect billions of people to the internet. IPv4 addresses are quickly running out, so the signatories want to have the new version of the internet protocol, IPv6, adopted quickly. In one of the items in the declaration that is more political than technical, they call on governments and private companies that use a large number of IPv4 addresses to lead the switch over.
Complete info at Heise online.

More than 100 technical experts from English-speaking countries in Africa have gathered in Nairobi for IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) training. The training is geared toward improving the capacity of IT managers in Africa in deployment of IPv6 networks.

Kenya will embark on a plan to deploy IPv6 mainly through the national Network Operations Center (NOC) that is currently being setup, said Information and Communication Minister Samuel Poghisio in his keynote address. He added that NOC will support ongoing initiatives to encourage IPv6 deployment.
Complete info at CIO, NetworkWorld and ComputerWorld.

Increasing demand for Internet based services means that there would not be enough addresses to support this expected growth, if no action is taken. Encouraging internet users and providers to adopt the latest Internet Protocol (IP version 6 or IPv6) will provide a massive increase in address space, much in the same way as telephone numbers were lengthened in the 20th century.
Complete info at Europa web site, in all the official languages.

The Commission or the European Communities has released a Communication to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, regarding the advancement of Internet.

The objective of the Action Plan is the support of the widespread introduction of the next version of the Internet Protocol (IPv6).
The complete Communication is available at the Europa web site, including a short video clip.

The European Commission has set a target of getting at least a quarter of EU industry, public authorities and households to switch to IPv6 internet addressing by 2010. A recent report from the OECD had warned that the shortage of older IPv4 internet addressing threatened the rise of mobile internet services.

"This is very much a case of a stitch in time saves nine", said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "In the short term, businesses and public authorities might be tempted to try to squeeze their needs into the strait jacket of the old system, but this would mean Europe is badly placed to take advantage of the latest internet technology, and could face a crisis when the old system runs out of addresses."
Complete info at Cellular News, 7th Space and CRN.

Businesses alone are not doing enough to avert an impending shortage of Internet Protocol addresses, and governments must work with them to secure the future of the Internet economy, according to a report published Thursday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The number of IP addresses, needed for Web sites, servers and PCs to communicate with one another over the Internet, is limited, and almost 85 percent of addresses are now in use. At the current rate of growth, the pool of available addresses will be exhausted by 2011.
Complete info at NetworkWorld, PCWorld and ComputerWorld.

Twenty-five per cent of all European users should have the opportunity to use IPv6 by the end of 2010, and should be able to access most of their normal services and content with it.

The EU Commission will set this goal in a statement, to be published at the end of May, on the new internet protocol and progress in the net.

Detlef Eckert of the General Directorate for Information Society and Media presented the key points of the statement and a related action plan at the RIPE meeting in Berlin.

The Commission is joining organisations like the Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE) in calling for rapid action in the face of dwindling reserves of IP addresses.
Complete info at Heise Online.

The Information Society and Media Directorate General of the European Commission is pleased to invite you to the "European IPv6 Day" that will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on the 30th of May of 2008 at the Robert Schuman room inside the Berlaymont building. The event will see the launch of the Communication "Advancing the Internet action plan for the deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in Europe".

The main goal of the Communication is to promote IPv6 adoption through a wide range of actions encouraging public administration, users and industrial stakeholders to take decisive steps to accelerate the implementation of IPv6, so as to ensure Europe's readiness to face the expected depletion of the IPv4 addresses. Moreover, the prompt and efficient adoption of IPv6 offers Europe significant opportunities to boost innovation and develop a leading role in advancing the Internet.
Complete information and registration available at the Policy/IPv6 web page of the European Commission.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) put a spotlight on the next generation of Internet addressing when it switched off attendees’ access to IPv4 during its meeting this week. For an hour, Internet engineers at the meeting could only access the Internet using an IPv6 network.
Complete info at Earthtimes, StreetInsider and Business Wire.