Read full story: PC World

RIPE Labs graph looks at IPv6 ripeness rate of all countries in the RIPE NCC service region as measured in July 2010. (Click to Enlarge)

This graph, the first in a series from RIPE Labs, looks at the IPv6 "ripeness" of all ISPs registered as RIPE NCC members. We created a rating system that gives ISPs up to four "stars" for IPv6 services that they provide, based on the following criteria:

• The ISP has an IPv6 allocation
• The address prefix is actually routed on the Internet
• A route6 object is registered in the RIPE Database
• Reverse DNS has been set up

The graph illustrates countries in the RIPE NCC service region (Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia) that have at least five ISPs; each one gets a rating ranging from zero stars to four stars. The graph indicates the level of IPv6 deployment in a specific country and in the region as a whole.

Some key findings show that:

• 27% of all ISPs in the RIPE NCC service region have at least one IPv6 allocation
• 8% have achieved four-star IPv6 ripeness
• Slovenia has the highest IPv6 deployment: 67% of all ISPs in Slovenia have at least one star and nearly 25% have four stars!

Slovenia is doing exceptionally well, undoubtedly due to a very active and persuasive IPv6 community. Of course, in a relative scoring system like this, smaller countries have a slight advantage. However, it's worth noting that the runners-up include larger economies such as Portugal, the Netherlands and Germany.

The bad news is that nearly 73% of all ISPs have not even requested IPv6 space yet (indicated by the white bars on the graph). It's surprising that so many ISPs have yet to feel the urgency to deliver their services on IPv6 to enable their business to grow, especially when only a little more than 6% of IPv4 address space remains.

The deployment rate of IPv6 is certainly lagging far behind what technical experts consider desirable, but there is clearly a positive trend. We will bring you more hard numbers on IPv6 deployment in this series.

What next?

We are considering extending our rating with a fifth star based on reachability over IPv6. We have several ideas, but we are curious to hear from you—what do you think is a good way to measure IPv6 reachability?

Read more about the methodology to collate this data on the RIPE Labs site.

Written by Daniel Karrenberg, Chief Scientist at the RIPE NCC

The nature of the audience was interesting. Compared to previous years, when asked about their affiliation, the number of hands raised for the category 'enterprise' was significantly higher. ISP's, Government and Education sector used to dominate but Industry now seems to have finally taken notice.

The session was prefaced by John Chambers' video, the same one presented at the Google IPv6 Conference some weeks ago, announcing Cisco's commitment to IPv6 support on all product lines. Top down works in most Corporations, so the various fiefs and divisions will certainly take notice as they will most likely be regularly probed on their progress. Let us assume that their bonuses will also be linked to some IPv6 related deliverables, this always brings quite some focus.

What remains of the increasingly putrid IPv4 address pool seems to dry up even faster under the scorching sun of the Vegas Valley. The exhaustion counters agree that a year from now the IANA pool will be dry while some pundits hypothesize a final run on the remaining IPv4 address blocks. Why not a betting site on the exact IPv4 exhaustion date? after all this is Vegas. Allocation of ever smaller blocks remains a temptation, ignoring the fact that associated table sizes would put possibly unbearable strain on routing and affect service quality. 'Business continuity' is becoming the new mantra for a more rapid adoption of IPv6. The perceived issues, not surprisingly are the lack of training and back-office readiness as already voiced at the Google Conference.

In the meantime the tier 1 networks are ready, the active IPv6 BGP table is now well over 3000 and shows a healthy growth, content is increasingly IPv6 accessible, operating systems are ready and IPv6 trickles down all the way to the eyeballs, in other words the end-user. Some end-user customers even switched to Comcast, just to be part of their IPv6 trial.

When I will see 'IPv6 ready' written on a Cisco Linksys box at Future Shop, I will buy one. I am also eagerly waiting for Videotron, my cable and internet provider, to follow in Comcast's steps.

And by the way, we were told that Cius is Android based and IPv6 ready.

IPv6 is doing well under the desert sun and summer heat.

Written by Yves Poppe, Director, Business Development IP Strategy

Read full story: ICANN

"Both Dyn and NTT America share a keen understanding of Internet and network infrastructure and Dyn can leverage a wide variety of NTT America's infrastructure assets including financial stability, depth of services and a forward thinking approach on using innovation to help efficiently and cost effectively grow businesses"

When selecting an infrastructure partner, Dyn prioritized top criteria including a high performance, IPv6 ready, global network supported by engineering based customer service and chose NTT America to help power the Web infrastructure of customers like Zappos, Netflix and Twitter. "For our customers, it's all about performance; our goal is to optimize the speed of response," said Tom Daly, Dyn's President and CTO. "That's why the only option is to go with a Tier-1 network and NTT America is one of the best in the world. The investment required to keep a global network running at the performance levels we need is one of the major factors in our choice of network partners."

Dyn's solutions for enterprises are based on the Dynect Platform, a scalable external DNS platform that directs Internet traffic, routes around outages and maximizes network performance. The platform has key features that enterprises demand in a premium service including active failover to avoid any outage events, efficient network load balancing and a CDN manager, which provides geographical or weighed load balancing to improve performance and cost efficiencies.

"The kind of advanced solutions we are able to offer depends fundamentally on two things, technical expertise and innovation, as well as support and service levels that are second to none," commented Daly. "One of the things about NTT America that really impressed us, and maybe it's because we are 90 percent staffed by engineers, is that if we have any issue or question, our calls are answered directly by a network engineer 24/7 in their Network Operations Center (NOC). You aren't routed to a call center where your call is triaged by someone who doesn't understand the issue. This is really critical to both us and our customers because we guarantee nearly 100 percent DNS resolution, just like NTT America guarantees 100 percent uptime."

"Both Dyn and NTT America share a keen understanding of Internet and network infrastructure and Dyn can leverage a wide variety of NTT America's infrastructure assets including financial stability, depth of services and a forward thinking approach on using innovation to help efficiently and cost effectively grow businesses," said Shuichi Ikeda, vice president of sales and business development for NTT America's Global IP Network Business Unit.

As a Tier-1 provider, NTT America's Global IP Network (GIN) provides private peering and seamless service from a single global ASN (ASN2914), directly connecting telecoms, ISPs, content providers, CDNs and enterprises at the highest performance levels available. In addition to its US and Latin American networking capabilities, NTT America employs six transpacific cable systems to provide one of the shortest, fastest paths for transpacific Internet traffic, meeting and often exceeding the performance metrics set by customers. In addition, the transpacific portion of the network has reached 300 gigabytes (300Gbps) per second of available capacity, one of the highest available for any global Tier-1 network. (Note: To view the NTT Communications Global IP Network, visit: http://www.ntt.net/english/about/network_map.cfm.)

To view the complete NTT America / Dyn Inc. case study, visit NTT America's website at http://www.us.ntt.net/products/case_studies/.

About NTT America

NTT America is North America's natural gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, with strong capabilities in the U.S. market. NTT America is the U.S. subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation, the global data and IP services arm of a Fortune Global 500 telecom leader: Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation (NTT). NTT America provides world-class Enterprise Hosting, managed network, and IP networking services for enterprise customers and service providers worldwide. For additional information on NTT America, visit us on the Web at www.us.ntt.com.

U.S. product information regarding the NTT Communications Global IP Network and its award winning IPv6 transit services may be found at http://www.us.ntt.net/, by calling 877-8NTT-NET (868-8638), or by emailing sales@us.ntt.net. Follow NTT America on Twitter at @NTT_America or join us on Facebook at http://www.nttamerica.com/facebook for up-to-date news and announcements.

About NTT Communications Corporation

NTT Communications provides a broad range of global networks, management solutions and IT services to customers worldwide. The company is renowned for delivering reliable, high-quality security, hosting, voice, data and IP services; its expertise in managed networks; and its leadership in IPv6 transit technology. NTT Communications' extensive infrastructure includes Arcstar™ Global IP-VPN and Global e-VLAN, as well as a Tier-1 IP backbone reaching more than 150 countries in partnership with major Internet service providers, and secure data centers in Asia, North America, and Europe. NTT Communications is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one of the world's largest telecoms with listings on the Tokyo, London and New York stock exchanges. Please visit www.ntt.com/index-e.html.

Related Links:
Huge privacy flaw found in VPN systems Wired, Jun.18.2010
Huge Security Flaw Makes VPNs Useless for BitTorrent TorrentFreak, Jun.17.2010

Coverage of past ICANN meetings:
ICANN 37 in Nairobi, Kenya
ICANN 36 in Seoul, South Korea
ICANN 35 in Sydney, Australia
ICANN 34 in Mexico City

Comments and questions?
Please post them below in the comment section of the page or send us an email.

* * *

Update / Local Time: Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 10:23 AM — Dyn Inc. General Counsel & VP, Business Operations has a discussion with Gretchen Olive, Director of Policy and Industry Affair, Corporation Service Company (CSC).

Update / Local Time: Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 5:23 PM — Dyn Inc. General Counsel & VP, Business Operations has a discussion with Stuart Lawley, CEO of ICM Registry.

Update / Local Time: Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 3:39 PM — Dyn Inc. General Counsel & VP, Business Operations has a discussion with Paul Mockapetris, Chairman and Chief Scientist at Nominum and the inventor of the Domain Name System (DNS).

Update / Local Time: Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 3:37 PM — Dyn Inc. General Counsel & VP, Business Operations has a discussion with Jeff Neuman VP Law & Policy at NeuStar Inc.

Update / Local Time: Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 5:34 AM — Dyn Inc. General Counsel & VP, Business Operations has a discussion with Mason Cole, VP of Oversee.net.

Update / Local Time: Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 2:47 AM — Dyn Inc. General Counsel & VP, Business Operations chats with Milton Mueller a Professor from Syracuse University School of Information Studies.

Update / Local Time: Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 4:32 PM — Gray Chynoweth, General Counsel, VP Business Operations for Dyn Inc. previews ICANN 38 Brussels. If you're not making the trip out to Brussels, stay tuned and watch all of the footage from ICANN 38.

Brought to you in partnership with Dyn Inc. Please add your feedback and suggestions using the comment form provided on this page or contact us directly.

The view of an abyss or the fear of judgement day always focuses attention and as a result IPv6 adoption is finally picking up speed. The Google invitational IPv6 Conference in Mountain View clearly illustrated the point. On the transport side, tier one ISP’s have their networks very much ready for the anticipated traffic surge while a rapidly increasing number of tier two ISP’s upgrade their upstream connectivity to dual stack. On the content side, kudos undoubtedly go to Google who progressively made its content accessible in IPv6 including YouTube since February.

More from CircleID…

The view of an abyss or the fear of judgment day always focuses attention and as a result IPv6 adoption is finally picking up speed. The Google invitational IPv6 Conference in Mountain View clearly illustrated the point. On the transport side tier1 ISP's have their networks very much ready for the anticipated traffic surge while a rapidly increasing number of tier2 ISP's upgrade their upstream connectivity to dual stack. On the content side, kudos undoubtedly go to Google who progressively made its content accessible in IPv6 including Youtube since February. Needless to say that this created a rather noticeable increase in IPv6 traffic. Some major content providers such as Yahoo and Facebook are also coming along. It can be easily assumed that if the top 10 of the Alexa 500 most popular websites are IPv6 accessible the long tail will follow. The Content Distribution Networks remain relatively timid with the exception of Limelight and Netflix. Here lies an opportunity for the early movers; the growing IPv6 content volumes are theirs to gain. One gaping hole remains the lack of adequate support in some major load balancing products but alternatives are available on the market.

The other front which has been creating a persistent concern is CPE, Customer Premise Equipment. It was refreshing to hear D-Link say that 5 million of their boxes shipped are IPv6-ready. Installed bases of ADSL and Cable modems bases have workaround mechanisms and new ones being installed are IPv6 ready. Outstanding issues often mentioned by everybody in the ecosystem remain lack of training of technical and support staff and the upgrade of back-office systems as well for IT staff to upgrade DNS systems, websites and e-mail systems. A field of opportunities for consulting firms as this becomes more pressing.

While all these activities are underway to forklift the 'old internet', the mobile broadband internet continues to grow all around it. The iPhone, iPad and other Androids have ushered the need for true Mobile Broadband. This in turn forces the carriers to accelerate their LTE plans ever more. As of june 7th the GSMA counted 80 operators in 33 countries with firm commitments, up from 64 just two months ago. In the meantime, a further 30 operators are currently in trial mode for LTE making for a total of 110 operators in 44 countries. The ball is undeniably rolling faster and faster.

Last weeks' Google IPv6 gathering saw presentations by Verizon and T-Mobile which perfectly illustrated the immediate necessity of IPv6 in the mobile world. Verizon will offer its first IPv6 phones in 2011. If one considers that some market researchers project that the sales of smartphones including iPad and iPadlike devices could surpass 'traditional' devices, meaning desktops and laptops, within two or three years, we should be in for most interesting times indeed.

It is only fitting that Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, mentioned in his address at the GSM World Congress in Barcelona back in February that support of mobility is a priority in all Google product development.

IPv6 for the masses, masses of IPv6 addresses is within sight.

Written by Yves Poppe, Director, Business Development IP Strategy

(1) the continued saga of nTLDs (more specifically, the battle over VI and the potential emergence of "categories");
(2) how ICANN is doing at fulfilling its obligations under the AOC;
(3) what changes will make it into the New-New RAA; and
(4) the signing of the Root and the continued roll-out of DNSSEC.

Before discussing the topics, I'll note that while many of you reading this post will undoubtedly know all the ICANN jargon, issues and politics inside and out, some of you may not be so (un)lucky. Thus, for those of you that don't yet have total familiarity with how ICANN works, background information on the issues that are currently areas of focus and an understanding what all the acronyms mean, I've included some resources at the bottom of this post (including some links to the great ICANN Start podcast series).

Also, as usual, Dyn Inc. will follow up this post with video blogs from Brussels starting next week (see past coverage: Nairobi, Seoul, Sydney, Mexico City). So, if you want us to try to get a question answered or have an issue that you want explained, just post it as a response here, and I'll see if I shed some light on the subject.

On-Tap in Brussels

nTLDs - Vertical (or Registry-Registrar) Integration and 'Categories'

Draft Applicant Guidebook V.4 is out, and while progress has been made on whittling down many of the 'big issues' that need to be resolved before the application process launches, one issue that hasn't reached resolution is whether (and if so how) registrars will be able to both remain registrars and compete with registries in running nTLDs. This debate over 'Vertical Integration' should be interesting to watch because there are serious policy implications for nTLDs and the registrant community and serious economic implications for registrars and registries. Also of interest with respect to the new TLD program is whether the Government Affairs Committee led discussion, which started in Nairobi, dealing with new TLDs that are (arguably) in different categories (e.g., 'community', 'brand', etc.) differently will continue in Brussels and whether such differential treatment would lead more quickly or more slowly to the launch of the first new TLD.

The Affirmation of Commitments

The AOC and the process for its review (new acronym alert - the Accountability and Transparency Review Team = ATRT) is still in its infancy, but the members of the ATRT will be out and about looking for feedback on how ICANN is doing on staying accountable and transparent to its stakeholders. Given the topic, and fact that transparency and accountability are two seriously loaded buzz words in the ICANN community, there is little doubt that assertions of ICANNs transparency and accountability, or lack thereof, will make it into more than a few discussions in the halls and at the bars.

The New-New Registrar Accreditation Agreement

The push for a New New RAA is gaining momentum, with the joint GNSO-ALAC Drafting Team and the IRTP-B and PEDNR Working Groups all looking at how the contract could be changed to achieve certain policy objectives. The Drafting Team, in keeping with its broad mandate, canvassed the globe and came up with more than 100 potential amendments, including a number from the law enforcement community. The ITRP-B and PEDNR working groups, which have been working steadily on figuring out ways of improving registrants experience with renewing (PEDNR) or transferring (IRTP-B) their domain names, have also generated policy ideas that could result in RAA amendments. The swirl of debate about all these potential amendments should be interesting to watch. Many people see the changes as the beginning (or perhaps middle) of the end of the relatively free market regime that has historically dominated in the registrar services space while many others see the changes as necessary due to shifting market, security and registrant needs.

The Signing of the Root, Continued DNSSEC Rollout and DNS Security

In just a few days, on June 16, 2010 in secure facility just outside of Washington, DC, the first 'key signing' ceremony will take place, marking a significant milestone in the implementation of DNSSEC. This step in the continued rollout of DNSSEC will be a topic of discussion for a variety of reasons, including the obvious, like how it is enabling a more secure and reliable Internet, and the not so obvious, like how it moves the DNS past one of the scaling factors that caused some to want to delay the launch of new TLDs and how it demonstrates ICANN institutional and technical competency in the face the expiration of the IANA Contract.

New(er) to ICANN Resources

ICANN START – This project, started earlier this year by ICANN's Director of Policy Communications, Scott Pinzon provides great and mercifully brief introductions on a variety of important policy and technical topics:

The 'RAA' - Margie Milam, Senior Policy Counselor, describes the Registrar Accreditation Agreement, why it affects more than just registrars, and why law enforcement agencies want to amend it.
http://audio.icann.org/icann-start-06-raa-20100528-en.mp3

IPV4 Depletion - Leo Vegoda, Manager of Number Resources, explains what IPv4 and IPv6 are; when the Internet might run out of IPv4 addresses; and how moving to IPv6 could affect registries, registrars, businesses, and individuals.
http://audio.icann.org/icann-start-05-ipv6-20100429-en.mp3

Consensus Policies - Margie Milam, Senior Policy Counselor, explores the definition of 'consensus policy' in the ICANN context, and along the way clarifies the difference between a registry and a registrar.
http://audio.icann.org/icann-start-04-consensus-policy-registries-and-registrars-20100329-en.mp3

'ccTLDs' - Bart Boswinkel, ICANN's Senior Policy Advisor to the Country Code Name Supporting Organization, introduces listeners to country code Top Level Domains, how they are assigned, and why country codes are more popular than .COM in some regions.
http://audio.icann.org/icann-start-03-ccnso-20100301-en.mp3

'IRTP' - Marika Konings, ICANN Policy Director, explains what the IRTP is and why it matters. Host: Scott Pinzon, Director of Policy Communications.
http://audio.icann.org/icann-start-02-irtp-20100127-en.mp3

'Redirection & Wildcarding' - Dave Piscitello, a Senior Security Technologist, explains what these types of synthesized DNS responses are and why they harm the Internet.
http://audio.icann.org/icann-start-01-redirection-and-wildcarding-20100127-en.mp3

ICANN Acronym Meanings:

http://gnso.icann.org/acronyms.html

http://www.icann.org/en/magazine/ (Look for the ICANN Acronyms Explained Section)

Dyn Inc.'s ICANN Video Blog:

During the past four ICANN meetings Dyn Inc. has series of video blogs with people in the halls on the issues and will do so again at Brussels starting next week.

ICANN 37 - Nairobi

ICANN 36 - Seoul

ICANN 35 - Sydney

ICANN 34 - Mexico City

Written by Graham Chynoweth, VP Busniess Operations & General Counsel, Dyn Inc.