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Things that make you go hmmm: More on IPv6

Oct 23, 2008  By David Lane

A while ago (a year?) I wrote about my attempts to get an IPv6 address block and start using IPv6. My carrier, Verizon, did not seem to know what I was talking about.

Today, in Government Computer News comes this:

"There isn't a lot of demand for IPv6," said Daniel Awduche, a Verizon business fellow, speaking as part of an IPv6 panel at the MPLS 2008 Conference being held this week in Washington ( GCN )

File this under the category of things that make you go hmmm. Clearly there is a serious disconnect when a senior member of the company says “Yeah, we do that” and the front line sales force says “Nope, never heard of it.” It leaves the customer in the lurch wondering who is telling the truth.

And it is not like IPv6 is a new thing. Oh, sure, it is getting a lot of press right now as the US government is in a push to convert their system to it (we are still wondering exactly why, but that is a different discussion since the hardware and software at the end nodes is not now, and will not be anytime soon, ready to handle it), but it has been around and functional for at least 10 years and certainly, in countries outside the United States, deployed widely, at least as a common carrier on the backbone.

So I come back around to my initial head scratching question. Is there not a lot of demand because people are not adopting the new protocol, or is there not a lot of demand because people are being told their carrier does not support the protocol.

It should not be too hard to guess which camp I am in.

______________________

David Lane, KG4GIY is a member of Linux Journal's Editorial Advisory Panel and the Control Op for Linux Journal's Virtual Ham Shack

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Esoteric

FredR's picture
Submitted by FredR on Fri, 10/24/2008 - 10:18.

I think folks like you and I are part of a mini geek club. And not many large businesses like Verizon are part of that club. Yes, they have an internet-connected network. Yes they employ geeky people. But, when I read that comment from Daniel, I couldn't help but think it was general business-speak for "Well, until we can find a way to soak another $40 a month from average Joe Schlub, we're not pursuing ipv6".

I worked for a small to medium ISP and I find it was probably more interesting than working at a large name like Verizon. The employees are more engaged and more apt to try new things like ipv6. ("New" in a sense the general public doesn't really know what it is, but then again do they know what ipv4 is?). When I moved 800 miles across country, one of my first things I did was find the local small-to-medium ISP. Even though I didn't work *for* them, I find myself working with them often, even though I've switched jobs. It seems they have the same mindset.

One could probably rate local ISP's on a "geek scale". Speakeasy? Higher rating than Verizon. How many Verizon techs or engineers are on local Linux or Cisco user groups? Not many? Hmmm, wonder why ... you get the idea.

-- FLR or flrichar is a superfan of Linux Journal, and goofs around in the LJ IRC Channel

IPv6 in the US

inno's picture
Submitted by inno (not verified) on Fri, 10/24/2008 - 10:03.

Most nations other than the US have already adopted IPv6 to some extent. The problem is, the US was the birthplace of IPv4, so they have massive blocks available. There's currently no direct reason for the US to migrate to v6 other than the fact that a lot of the world is already there. Even the US govt tried to mandate an internal switch to v6, but the date has already flew by.

why no IPv6?

DarkFlib's picture
Submitted by DarkFlib (not verified) on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 23:24.

Most of the operating systems available today support IPv6, the problem isn't the OS (or even app support although that can be lacking) its the home routers that most people have.

If you put most Windows or Linux installs on a functioning public IP with IPv6 enabled it normally just works, even if it has to fall back to IPv6 in IPv4 tunnels to route the traffic.

Most of these devices have no real upgrade path besides replacement and have no intention of supporting IPv6 anytime soon, so what is really needed is education of manufacturers.

To some extent its a catch-22, while there aren't many servers supporting it routers are in no rush to support it and while few routers support it, most servers have no need to do so either.

Its going to be hard to get the support, but it will come eventually, NAT can't save us forever.

Totally Agree

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/23/2008 - 13:17.

I have spoken to every broadband/leased line provider in my area asking about IPv6. The answers always fall into two categories: Either they say they are experimenting with it and may start rolling it out in the "near future" or a flat they don't support it. As a customer, I would rather opt-in to IPv6 now and migrate at my own pace than be forced into it down the line. If I have the money, my equipment supports it, and I understand that I will have to run both for the time being why does it have to be so difficult? So until an ISP near me catches up to where I want to be I will continue going through a tunnel broker.

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