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Africa - Asia Regulatory Conference 2012Colombo, Sri Lanka

Why IPv6?

Ajith Pasqual

University of Moratuwa

15th February 2012

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Need for an Address

• Why do we need an address?• For any communication to happen, there has

to be at least two parties. • They need to be identified uniquely and in the

context of Internet Communication, IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4) address serves that purpose.

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Connected Devices• Historically, Internet was all about communication

that happened between two desktop computers or a desktop computer and a Server or server to server.– Numbers involved were not so high.

• Now, Look at today’s context– Millions of Laptops, net books and tablets

– Millions of Smart Phones (Billions ?)

• Exponential increase of Content Providers (Servers)• All the above are on Internet as well!• Now users are also becoming content providers!

(Facebook)

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Some Facts

• World Population – 7 billion• Worldwide Mobile Connections – 5.6 billion

by end of 2011 [Source: Gartner - http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1759714]

– Mobile Data Service Revenue is increasing.

• Prediction – 7.4 billion mobile connections by 2015.

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Some Facts (2)

• China has 951.6 million mobile phone users by October 2011 [Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/21/china-mobile-idUSL4E7LS00V20111121]

• India has 893.8 million mobile users by end of 2011 [source : TRAI]

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IPv4 and Address Allocation• IPv4 – 4 billion Addresses• Allocation done through 5 Regional Internet

Registries (RIR) through delegation from Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)

• Final Allocation of IPv4 began in February 2011– 16 million IPv4 Addresses were allocated to each

RIR.

• On 15th April 2011, Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC), one of RIRs announced that they had reached the last block of allocation (i.e. last 16 million addresses).

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Image Source: Wikipedia - RIR

Regional Internet Registries (RIR)

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Address Allocation

• Policies for providing IPv4 addresses are becoming strict.

• E.g. APNIC now allocates only /22 block to any organization requesting for IPv4 addresses (1024 contiguous addresses)

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IPv4 Address Exhaustion

• One of the primary reasons for IPv4 exhaustion is the growth in mobile Internet.

• 4 major mobile data traffic drivers [Source:

Gartner]– growth in the number of mobile connections, – increasing availability of higher-speed data-centric

mobile networks,– smartphones, and – data-consuming content and applications

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[1 Jan 2011 to 1 Jan 2012] Growth of IPv4 address pool handed out from the RIRs to entities in specific countries. Countries are coloured by growth, going

from bright green (0% or less) to bright red (20% or more). Source: abs.ripe.net/Members/emileaben/ipv4-address-space-growth-per-country

IPv4 Address Growth in a Year

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IPv4 Exhaustion Timeline

Source: APNIC

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  2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Allocated IPv4 Addresses (Millions) 174.4 168.1 203.9 203.3 189.4 248.8 201

Relative Annual Growth 8.00% 7.70% 8.80% 8.00% 6.90% 8.40% 6.30%

IPv4 Allocations 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

APNIC 31% 31% 34% 44% 46% 48% 53%

RIPE NCC 35% 33% 31% 22% 23% 22% 22%

ARIN 27% 28% 26% 28% 22% 18% 11%

LACNIC 6% 7% 7% 6% 6% 6% 10%

AFRINIC 1% 2% 3% 1% 3% 3% 5%

IPv4 Allocated Addresses by Year

IPv4 Allocated addresses - Distribution by RIR

Worldwide IPv4 Allocation

Source: http://www.potaroo.net/ispcol/2012-01/2011.html

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IPv4 Addresses (/32s, Millions)

Rank 2007   2008   2009   2010   2011  

1 USA 48.47 USA 53.79 China 50.67 China 45.2 China 53.07 

2 China 37.29 China 46.49 USA 38.55 USA 42.32 USA 21.21 

3 France 13.38  Japan 10.06  Japan 11.04 Rep.Korea 25.73  Japan 16.91 

4 Germany 11.22 Rep.Korea 7.96 

Rep.Korea 10.95  Japan 10.02 

Rep.Korea 7.68 

5Rep.Korea 7.73 Germany 7.29 Russia 5.46 Australia 9.63  Indonesia 7.09 

6 Japan 7.14 Brazil 6.29 Brazil 4.19  India 9.43 Brazil 6.29 

7 UK 6.41 Russia 6.12 UK 4.19 UK 8.13  India 6.01 

8 India 5.61  Italy 5.85  Italy 4.16 Germany 6.97 France 5.39 

9 Mexico 5.24  India 4.23 France 3.85 Russia 6.46 Russia 5.02 

10 Italy 5.09 Taiwan 4.18 Germany 3.6 Brazil 6.29 Germany 4.92

IPv4 Allocated addresses - Top 10 Economies 2007 - 2011

Source: http://www.potaroo.net/ispcol/2012-01/2011.html

IPv4 Address Consumption by Countries

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IPv6• Countless number of addresses!!• 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses• This is the primary reason for IPv6

migration• Every person on this planet can have multiple

addresses!• Every device in your home become

addresseable in years to come.

Caveat: Have a proper IPv6 Management Policy in place !! Otherwise you might run out of IPv6 due to mis-management of address space.

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Other reasons for IPv6• Increasing need for end to end visibility.

– Without getting hidden behind one public address.

• Mobile Broadband• Need for IP Mobility • Convergence of Services over IP• Many services are now offered over IP

– Voice– CCTV (IP based Cameras for Surveillance)

• Intelligent Transportation Systems– Every vehicle becomes addressable– Every Roadside Sensors/Monitoring Devices becomes

addressable

• Security

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When to start?

• When RIRs run out of IPv4 space, IPv6 will be the only available address space for allocation.

• Do we need to wait till that happens?• Mobile Broadband Users become an ideal

testing ground for IPv6 launch for providers.

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Conclusion

• IPv6 is here to stay and it will be around more quickly than we expect.

• IPv6 offers countless business opportunities which have never been realizable in the past.

• Need for strong government initiative is a must.– E.g. Japan

• Start Migration and enjoy the benefits.

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Thank You.