Most of world still resisting IPv6 adoption

It appears those outside of the Asia-Pacific region are still wary of IPv6, according to a new report from analyst firm, Ovum.

The transition from the IPv4 to IPv6 protocol has been a polarising issue. A number of telcos and Internet groups have fiercely pushed for the public to adopt the new version of the Internet protocol claiming IPv4 addresses are close to exhaustion. IPv6 is presented as a remedy to problem, creating a even bigger pool of address space for Web portals.

Meanwhile sceptics have brush off these claims as meaningless doomsday drabble.

One side says it is an urgent issue while the other claims there is still some time left before IPv6 is required for mass deployment.

According to Ovum’s report titled IPv6 Transition: What’s the rush?, enterprise customers in Asia-Pacific have been the most eager to move to IPv6. This can be partially attributed to the announcement by the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) which claimed there aren’t any IPv4 addresses left from the free pool. However, it must be noted there are still some addresses on the old protocol on reserve.

But enterprise clients in other parts of the world are not heeding these calls. Some of them may have their head in the sand while other may be misinformed about their current position. A major reason, however, is simply because a number of IPv4 addresses still exist.

“Our research suggests many enterprise customers think they are already using IPv6 when they’re not,” Ovum said in a statement.

Numbers in the analyst firm’s latest IPv6 report suggest less than three percent of worldwide Internet traffic at present is from IPv6.

Many technology vendors, however, are not sitting idly by when it comes to IPv6 transition. Major router vendors have used South Australia-based ISP, Internode’s IPv6 production environment to test out their gear on the new protocol, according to the ISP in February.

Internode has been a vocal supporter of moving from IPv4 to IPv6 and has already begun signing up customers on the new protocol.

The Ovum report pointed out these efforts from vendors can actually motivate IPv6 adoption as consumer products such as smartphones that support IPv6 addresses can act as triggers to motivate enterprises to make the switch.

Ovum also expects the enthusiasm for IPv6 in Asia-Pacific will gradually migrate to other regions.

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