New Internet Version 6: India not tuned in
By:
Rasheed Kappan
IPv4 is available only to a fixed number of devices
Version 6 has a 128-bit address space
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BANGALORE: The Internet, as it is experienced today,
is set to change forever, because an impending crisis
looms on the availability of IP addresses. Without
an IP address, no device, mobile or fixed, can get
connected to the Internet. IPv4, the most widely used
version of the Internet Protocol, is fast running
out of addresses and may get exhausted by 2009. Yet,
when worldwide global firms and governments are
preparing for the IPv6, the next version, India
remains
an island of complacency.
Here is the problem: being a limited resource, IPv4
can be available only to a fixed number of connected
devices (4,294,967,296 to be precise). This is
the theoretical maximum, but in reality it is
impossible to efficiently use all the possible
addresses. There is not too much time left, warn
experts.
The consumption of IPv4 addresses seems to be
accelerating. Waiting till the last minute will become
expensive, while early movers will have new and/or
increased business opportunities, Chandra Kopparapu,
a key player in the IP arena, told The Hindu.
The IP address crunch will apparently hit hard the
business of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and
creation of new ISPs. This will have its biggest
impact
on the developing regions such as India, rest of Asia,
Africa and Latin America/Caribbean, where the Internet
penetration is not yet so widespread. Right
now, the broadband penetration in India is really
small. As the Internet usage grows here, the address
crunch will become more problematic, said Mr.
Kopparapu.
With Internet access no longer confined to the
desktop, it is certain that more people will start
logging in through devices such as the mobile phone
and
PDAs. This is bound to increase the demand for more IP
addresses manifold. It is in this context that the
entry of the IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version
6) becomes significant.
IPv6 is designed to expand the available addressing
space of the Internet and thus enable billions of new
devices, and always-on technologies such as
fibre-to-the-home,
Ethernet-to-the-home, cable, xDSL and Power Line
Communications, to connect to the Net.
Here is why version 6 is superior to the existing IPv4
version: IPv6 has a 128-bit address space. IPv6 has
been designed to coexist with IPv4 and not break
the IPv4 networks.
That means allowing the operating systems (such as
Windows XP) and applications to choose between the two
protocols for different communications. However,
standards dictate that wherever possible, IPv6 should
be preferred over IPv4.
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