Update on IPv6 Task Force activity – August 2011

The New Zealand IPv6 Task Force has been busy of late, progressing a number of important initiatives. Updates below:

Government initiative:
InternetNZ has graciously provided funding for Donald Clark to work with the IPv6 Task Force on a part time basis through to mid December in order to provide a specific focus on Government adoption of IPv6. The initial focus will be on Central Government agencies and if time permits local and regional agencies will also be included.  The goal is to have one-on-one discussions with the various agencies to determine adoption status and plans.

IPv6 coordinator:
The Task Force coordinator has been working on mapping IPv6 adoption across all sectors of industry in New Zealand. This mapping has resulted from a “State of the Nation” activity, itself based on Task Force survey data, one-on-one interactions and international data.

Another key focus has been the development of benchmark metrics that can be used to compare the progress with IPv6 adoption in New Zealand against that of other jurisdictions. This is no easy task. However, we are now focusing on a few key metrics and commencing the collection of data. The key metrics being considered currently include:

  • Number of Government public websites that are IPv6 enabled,
  • Number of the Top 20 New Zealand public websites that are IPv6 enabled,
  • Volume of IPv6 traffic flowing in New Zealand,
  • DNS IPv6 Queries,
  • Allocations of IPv6 addresses.

System integrators:
Another area of focus for the Task Force is the System Integrator community operating within New Zealand. To some extent this will be complementary to the Government initiative, but hopefully will also enable us to increase focus on IPv6 adoption within the wider enterprise sector. The aim is to encourage every interaction between system integrators and their clients to include a discussion on IPv6 adoption.

IPv6 events:
There are a number of events coming up, in which the Task Force will be participating, including:

  • Australia & New Zealand Internet Awards (ANZIA) – Task Force Convenor Murray Milner has been invited to participate as a judge for the Award related to innovation in IPv6 with the ceremony being held in Melbourne on the evening of 17 October 2011,
  • Australian IPv6 Summit – The Task Force has been invited to present at this event to be held in Melbourne from 17-19 October inclusive. Murray and Task Force  Secretariat Campbell Gardiner will present, with support from a number of other participating Task Force members,
  • ALGIM Conference – An invitation has been received to deliver a keynote address on the Whitepaper on IPv6 Adoption within Local Government to be held in Taupo on 21 November 2011.

ALGIM engagement:
The Task Force has completed a draft IPv6 whitepaper for ALGIM (the Association of Local Government Information Management). It is planned to release the Whitepaper through a keynote address to be presented by Murray at the ALGIM Conference in Taupo on 21 November this year. The Task Force has also been working with Tauranga City Council on a user case study.

IPv6 Forum:
The IPv4 address pool continues to diminish around the world with RIPE forecast to be the next region to drop below the single /8 threshold early next year.

A visit to the IPv6 Forum web page is well worth the effort from time to time. The front page offers access to plenty of global material on IPv6 applications, deployments and resources.  It also has a meter showing global Internet traffic split between IPv4 and IPv6.

The IPv6 traffic is still not growing rapidly today, but various commentators are expecting a rapid increase over the next few years leading to a forecast of around 50% of global traffic by 2015.

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