Internet professionals gather for important IPv6 workshop

March 18, 2009 - PRLog -- The London Internet Exchange (LINX) has staged a major deployment workshop dedicated to the topic of IPv6 implementation. The event, held on 13 March, was designed to promote the features and benefits of using IPv6 especially in light of the decline of available IPv4 address space. Such was the interest in IPv6 that well over 100 industry professionals attended the London workshop looking to learn more about the techniques and tools needed to offer IPv6 on their networks.

The event was co-sponsored by the Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR), part of the former DTI, who along with LINX were looking to bring IPv6 to the top of the industry agenda. Simon Hicks of BERR said: "This meeting was a great opportunity to discuss this important issue with key industry players. We are keen to develop structured timelines for a full scale move to IPv6 and this event has brought into focus the need to act now rather than later. I came away feeling positive that our objectives for this workshop had been met."

The programme for the workshop was dedicated entirely to the technical issues of IPv6 implementation and operation. It featured sessions on how to make the transition, the tools currently available to implement it and methods on how to take IPv6 to users via broadband. Also highlighted were recommended processes and best practice techniques plus case studies on IPv6 deployment from LINX member Claranet and from the RIPE NCC, one of the five regional registries providing Internet resource allocations including IPv6 addresses.

Andy Davidson, who attended and presented on behalf of Netsumo, commented: "This was a great event. The content was pitched perfectly and was exactly the kind of meeting we needed to accelerate the community's adoption of IPv6."

The event programme was co-ordinated and chaired by LINX Chief Technical Officer, Mike Hughes. He said: "We were delighted at the response we had to this workshop. The feedback has shown that there is a strong desire for similar events in future including special IPv6 tutorial sessions and we will be doing all we can to facilitate these for the community."

For more information and video from the IPv6 workshop please visit: www.linx.net/ipv6

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Notes to editors:

1.   Current estimates are that there is as little as 15% remaining of the total number of IPv4 addresses which could be exhausted in as little as two years. In contrast IPv6 is an addressing scheme that uses 128 bits that allows for a total of 340 billion billion billion billion unique addresses. However, while the advantages in making the transition from the current IPv4 infrastructure seem clear, it does require careful management to ensure that all elements of the move to IPv6 are transparent to end users. For this reason the take up in the industry has been relatively light with the limited amount of IPv6 content available also a factor.

2.   LINX (www.linx.net) is a mutual, not-for-profit organisation whose 300-plus members include almost all UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content delivery service providers plus many from the Americas, mainland Europe, the Far East and Africa. Every member has an equal vote in the management of the organisation.

3.   Connection of Internet networks at an Internet exchange point such as LINX is known as 'peering'. LINX offers members the option of establishing private one-to-one peering between networks and/or 'public peering' where traffic can potentially be exchanged with any other member linked to the exchange.

4.   The Internet traffic at LINX consists of a wide variety of data including streaming media, website downloads, business information and emails. Peak LINX traffic is the equivalent of 800,000 simultaneous Internet video streams.

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LINX is a mutually owned membership association for operators of Internet Protocol networks. We provide a neutral interconnection facility and peering platform, known as an Internet Exchange Point (IXP), and represent the interests of our members on matters of public policy.