We are inviting those working in ICT in central or local Government or who supply services to such. The formal invitation is here including how to RSVP.

The theme of “Cost-effective and timely adoption of IPv6” addresses the challenge we all face with IPv6 today. We’ve heard the message, it’s now about procurement and implementation. We all seek to understand best practice approaches and learn from other’s experiences.

The conference follows and is informed by the release of a detailed Task Force report on IPv6 state-sector adoption in New Zealand available at: http://www.ipv6.org.nz/ipv6-state-sector-adoption/

The conference programme will be dominated by pragmatic sessions. Following an hour of keynote addresses, presentations will be given about IPv6 services available to the Government sector including One.Govt, hosting and IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service). In the afternoon there will be local IPv6 case studies and three discussion workshops targeted at IPv6 Security, LAN/addressing and Websites/WAN.

The draft programme is here. It will continue to be updated closer to the event.

2012 will be a critical year for progressing IPv6 uptake in the Government sector. This conference will provide excellent support in that process.

Please register now as per the formal invitation as there will be a maximum attendance possible.

The Internode announcement of availability of IPv6 follows a similar announcement in New Zealand by Northland’s Uber Group. I note that TelstraClear has an evolving story, WorldxChange has been trialing IPv6 to its customers, Inspire Net is active, and FX Networks has been in the IPv6 market for a long time. I can’t wait to see even more come out of the woodwork and compete.

Prior to this embryonic competition, and lacking a Y2K-style deadline to force the issue, it’s been a hell of a job to convince enterprise customers in both corporate and government of the need to build capacity for IPv6 sooner rather than later. The collaborative NZ IPv6 Task Force has been active and these days theawareness is out there but more IPv6 Internet service supply is needed.

When it comes to the domestic market, hiding behind some of the ISP reticence is the Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) issue. While business-level routers are available, reasonably-priced IPv6 equipment for home is not. Naturally, equipment manufacturers want to see demand from ISPs as they re-engineer products, but they’ve had a decade and a half to prepare! They may, however, have a good excuse as the International standards organisation IETF is working on home networking standards for IPv6.

I hope this supply chain is sorted in time for the bulk of the UltraFast Broadband (UFB) network and the Australian NBN network. It will be a crying shame if ISPs are shipping home routers that aren’t compatible with IPv6 as the big migration to the next generation fibre network gets underway.

Note that, at least in New Zealand, the Local Fibre Companies (LFCs) don’t deal with IPv6 themselves as it is a protocol issue above the layers of the Internet that they deal with. Each home here will get a basic network box from their LFC, but the router with the IPv6 on it will be from the ISP or a store like Dick Smith or JB Hi-Fi.

So let’s celebrate these announcements of IPv6 support from ISPs and telcos as they arise, continue to raise awareness of IPv6 and keep the friendly pressure on those dragging the chain.

(originally posted at rwoodnz.net)

The IPv6 Survey of the top 100 CIOs being undertaken by InternetNZ has received a stronger response than the inaugral survey last year. At the time of the meeting 36 had been received from email requests. Last year a total of 33 was received and that had included a lot of phoning around. The survey will be continued into early September before being analysed.

Discussion of the survey always brings up discussion of other surveys that could or should be done, including of ISPs, content providers and integrators. An general ISP survey is undertaken by the Department of Statistics each year that includes an IPv6 question.

Convenor Murray Milner noted initiatives in India, where there is a more command and control approach to the issue than we have in New Zealand and deadline setting. He also noted Tony Hain’s analysis that there is less time than people think for IPv4 runnout. A IPv6 World Congress is to take place in Paris, endorsed by the global IPv6 Forum.

There was significant media interest locally in IPv6 last month with a number of IPv6 Task Force members stepping up to the plate for media interviews. ISPs told the media they are ready or almost ready.

The new IPv6 Coordinator Grant Symonds is beginning a process of identifying the IPv6 status and requirements of various organisations, starting with Task Force members and then going wider to ISPs, carriers, system integrators and content  providers. Information, aggregated where necessary, will be posted on the website.

There was again discussion about certification, with the concept put forward of external and internal milestones. The external milestones tend to be clear-cut and measurable but don’t recognise all the progress that happens beforehand. Internal milestones are more important at this stage, such as there being a sponsor for adoption within a company, training completed, a produrement policy and a review of applications for embedded IPv4 addresses.

The Australian’s have an issue with respect to IPv6 numbers with 100 contracts being held up with APNIC. This needs to be explored to see if there is a related issue in New Zealand.

And finally, the issue of consumer equipment compatibility was raised. Conversations need to be held with importers. At least one telco is working with a manufacturer to ship a dual stack consumer product in New Zealand this year.

The next Task Force meeting will be held on Monday 4 October.