IPv6 in India: The promises and challenges

Reports suggest that the global pool of IPv4 addresses will run dry by 2011, and thus the shift to IPv6 is imminent.  But what does that mean?  There are excellent resources that explain this in technical language.  Below I shall try to do so in non-technical language.

What is IPv6?

Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is a standard defined in 1981, whichis central to the Internet, allowing vastly different computers onvastly different kinds of networks to communicate with each other. (Think of how diplomatic protocols enables diplomats from vastlydifferent cultures to communicate effectively by agreement on certaincommon minimums (such as a handshake, etc.).) IPv4 was defined whenthere were relatively few computers, and even fewer connected tonetworks. Many things have changed since then, with one of the mostimportant change being the burgeoning of the Internet and the WorldWide Web. Each computer on the Internet has something known as an IPaddress. Each packet of data transmitted over the Internet must haveassociated from and to IP addresses (which can sometimes be ranges ofaddresses). IPv4 can accommodate 4,294,967,296 (2^32) unique IPaddresses, whereas IPv6 can handle 340 undecillion (2^128) uniqueaddresses. When you consider that every device with Internetconnectivity has an IP address (from laptops to Blackberries to evenalarm clocks), a lot of IP addresses are required. Since the early1990s, people have been talking about some of the limitations of IPv4,the primary one being the lack of expandability of IPv4.

Benefits of IPv6

1. Greater number of computers on the Internet, as it uses more
2. Better reliability and security, as IPSec, a protocol forauthenticating and securing all IP data, is built into IPv6 as adefault.
3. More efficient and thus faster than IPv4. Despite carrying muchmore data, IPv6 packets are simpler to route (just as addresses withpincodes are easier for post offices to handle).
4. More features can be added more easily. If at a later point of timemore features are required, those can be added without a whole newprotocol being designed.

What all does IPv6 require?

1. IPv6-capable Internet Service Providers providing consumers IPv6 addresses
2. IPv6-capable networking hardware (modems, routers)
3. IPv6-capable operating systems on consumer devices (smartphones, computers, etc.)
4. IPv6-capable websites, which depends on (1)

The shift to IPv6

Apart from IPv6 capability, at some point the shiftto IPv6 must happen, since IPv4 and IPv6 are not compatible. Translators, which allow an IPv6 address to be understood by a computerusing IPv4, do exist, but they are quite expensive to deploy. Currently, it is estimated that around 1% of the worlds Internettraffic is conducted using IPv6.  The most successful example of IPv6being used on a large scale was the 2008 Olympics where allnetwork operations (from security camera transmissions to a specialIPv6 website).  So why havent more ISPs shifted to IPv6?  Because ofnetwork externalities.  While telephones make sense, being the onlyperson in the world with a telephone doesnt.  Similarly, while IPv6 isthe way for the future, it only makes economic sense for ISPs to shift(or even prepare for the shift, by using translators) when there areplenty of others using IPv6.  While some ISPs (like Sify) are alreadyprepared for the shift, others need to gear up.  Importantly, thegovernment step in to encourage (and, perhaps, at some point, mandate)this transition. Following the governments of the US, EU, and China,the Indian government too sees the immensity of this shift, and hastasked the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) of the Departmentof Telecommunications to take the lead in this.  The TEC has convened meetings with experts, and thus India seems to be on the right track.

What does all this mean for you?

Perhaps a lot or not very much, depending on how you look at things. Most modern modems and routers (which are usually provided by your ISP) support IPv6, but are, by default, configured for IPv4.  Manysmartphones dont work on IPv6, but generally phones have a shortershelf life and chances are that market forces will goad manufacturersto support IPv6 by the time the IPv6 Internet becomes more popular. Thus, while IPv4 addresses might be find themselves near the end oftheir natural life within one to three years, they will live on thanksto various mechanisms that translate IPv4 to IPv6 (which wont workwell with certain applications such as peer-to-peer file-sharing). Eventually, even those translators will have to be abandoned if we areto embrace a brave new Internet.