Media News - Wednesday, May 28, 2008

EU calls for a quarter of European Internet users to use IPv6 by 2010

The European Commission set a target Tuesday for a quarter of EU businesses, public authorities and households to use next-generation Internet addresses by 2010, saying this was essential because the current network is running out of addresses. Pushing people toward Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6, would make available ‘an almost unlimited’ number of web addresses just as lengthening telephone numbers allowed more phones to be plugged into the network in the last century. The EU's Internet commissioner said more addresses — the string of numbers that identify a web connection — were needed if Europeans were to use Internet-enabled devices such as smart tags in shops, factories and airports as well as intelligent heating and lighting systems. The Internet address system most people use now, IPv4, dates back to 1984 and provides 4.3 billion addresses. Only 700 million — or 16 percent — are still available for new connections. Japan's Nippon Telecom and Telegraph has already rolled out a public IPv6 network and China plans to put one in place shortly. But the U.S. and Europe have yet to get the ball rolling. The EU executive called on European governments to take the first move by moving their own Internet networks and Web sites to IPv6 and by following the U.S. in making IPv6 a condition for government contracts for Web site services. ‘The Commission also wants the most important web sites of Europe to take the lead and aims to receive commitments from at least 100 top European web site operators, such as broadcasters or online news services, before the end of 2008,’ it said. The EU's europa.eu web site will be IPv6-ready by 2010, it promised. (AP via International Herald Tribune)

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