IPv6 Conference 2014 - Positive outlook for IPv6
The IPv6 Business Conference 2014 is over. The echo of the nearly 100 visitors was very positive. The core message of four experts from the conference is: IPv6 develops positively and faster than expected. It is the foundation for the Internet of Things. But we need more dual-stack content providers.
Through the Internet of Things, the demand for IP addresses will explode. Not only refrigerators and LED lights will communicate using IPv6 - the Internet of Things will save lives. At the IPv6 Business Conference on June 17, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Daniel Schilberg, Managing Director of IMA, presented the future of healthcare: Medical devices that are connected over the Internet with a tele-medical professional, enable emergency services at the front with a more accurate and faster treatment. His thesis: "In five to ten years, the majority of people will be equipped with emergency monitoring devices. Once a critical deviation from the norm is reached, these digital lifesavers notify the emergency services – not only a simple alert with location position, but informations that allow a tele-diagnosis and prepare emergency responders to what they have to expect."
Technology already available for digital lifesaver
The pictured scenario requires a stable Internet, nationwide mobile networks and Internet-enabled monitoring devices. IPv6 provides the basis for the massive increase in demand for IP addresses. "Devices such as Google Glasses, IPv6 networks and monitoring technologies are available. It takes proven processes, privacy regulation, and public pressure - but a use of digital lifesavers in mass is very realistic, " Prof. Dr. Schilberg explains. “We can – also thanks to IPv6 - save lifes over the Internet.” After a multi-year research and pilot project phase, there is now a tele-medical emergency system in operation in Aachen."Often what is needed most in an emergency case is not the expertise of the physician, but his decision-making authority, as prescribed in the law. With the informations provided by thesystem in the connected ambulance a remote doctor can make the necessary decisions. This is an additional service - all existing achievements will in any case remain installed," as Prof. Dr. Schilberg sets the record straight to concerns about a second class medicine.
Already 49% of IPv6 traffic possible
Alain Fiocco, senior director of the Cisco IPv6 High Impact Project, presented the latest statistical figures, demonstrating that IPv6 already plays a significant role in the Internet: "We analyzed the traffic of Alexa Top 500 sites in 130 countries and detected the classical Pareto effect: While a relatively small number of Websites (depending on the country between 30 – 50 ) are IPv6 enabled, these sites represent over 49% of the total traffic." In his opinion, many ISPs and mobile providers will switch to dual-stack in the near future. Dual-stack users connect to IPv6 enabled websites via the protocol that is more performant." To really take advantage of the 49% of IPv6 content, we need to upgrade the infrastructure to IPv6.
IPv6 brings cost advantages to the ISPs
Aviv Abramovich is convinced that this alignment will happen: "The Internet and mobile service providers have only one product: connectivity. To meet the growing demand for IP addresses in the future, they have only one option: IPv6 access " For Aviv it is clear:" This morning, connectivity has been presented in telemedicine. This is just one of the many positive ideas and ways we can improve our future with the Internet of Things and the machine-to-machine communication. Now imagine the future need of IP addresses." In his opinion, the advantages for the ISPs and mobile providers are obvious:" With IPv6, the ISPs can offer their product in masses - namely IP addresses. This results in cost advantages over the competition. Who first realizes these benefits, will be the winner."
As a security expert at Check Point, he advises his customers concerning attacks over IPv6: "Often companies have IPv6 traffic on their networks without really knowing it because most operating systems enable IPv6 by default. I recommend to start migration now in a controlled manner and to address security gaps. However, we also point out that there are, for example, 10 times more vulnerabilities in PDF readers as there are in the IPv6 protocol. The PDF does not care if it it came in over IPv4 or IPv6." The numbers presented by Alain Fiocco have also surprised Aviv Abramovich. "There is already a lot more IPv6 traffic in the Internet than I have expected."
Control over the user experience
As mentioned before, Alain Fiocco estimates the current potential of IPv6 traffic at 49%: “How do we move the remaining 51% of the content providers?" Available content is the main driver for IPv6 deployment for ISPs. For content providers, however, the benefits show up only on closer inspection: "50% of mobile customers of Verizon in the U.S. are IPv6-enabled. We're talking about 70 million users!" These mobile devices prioritize IPv6 over IPv4 and switch to IPv4 only if the performance is bad or the content is not available over IPv6. "IPv6 can be used to create a direct end-to-end connection with the user - without detours via uncontrolled translation hubs that are needed in IPv4 due to the address shortage," Alain Fiocco continues his argumentation. "If I were the person in charge of e-banking at Bank of America, or UBS, I could not afford to not optimize my e-banking solution for IPv6 to provide my users the best possible experience." And he concludes: "IPv6 can restore the end-to-end direct connection between websites and visitors. Content and service providers on the Internet regain control of the entire user experience of their customers. And so I think that also the 51% of non-IPv6-enabled website will soon implement dual-stack."
Switzerland leads the world
Switzerland is once again leading in this respect, as Silvia Hagen, President of the Swiss IPv6 Council explained in her welcome speech. "We currently have around 10% of IPv6-enabled Internet users, and are thus in 2nd place in international comparison (behind Belgium). The Swiss IPv6 Council is currently conducting a survey of the Top Alexa 75 websites in Switzerland. Starting with the 30 content providers that have already answered the survey, the dual-stack operation of their site has either already been implemented (22%) or is planned by the end of 2014 (51%). Reputable websites like Swiss Post, SBB.ch and Swisslos.ch will provide dual-stack access before the end of this year. This will significantly affect the IPv6 traffic share in Switzerland. Additionally, around 500,000 users will be dual-stacked by Swisscom in the second half of 2014, Switzerland then having over a million IPv6-enabled Internet users. This results in an user adoption in the range of about 18%."
IPv6 Conference with its own IPv6 test network
The Arena cinemas, the location where the conference was held for the second time now, has been inspired by the first conference in 2013. The website arena.ch is dual-stack. Additionally, besides the traditional conference WiFi, Arena offered a second SSID for this conference, which was IPv6-only. Conference participants who logged in to this SSID received an IPv6 address only. This allowed them to access IPv6-enabled websites over IPv6 directly. Access to IPv4-only sites was made possible by a NAT64 gateway. This was configured on the existing Fortinet firewalls without major effort according to the people in charge at Arena.
For Thorsten Jäger, Fortinet, the configuration of this Arena IPv6 network is business as usual: "We're in the middle of the global transition to IPv6 which became obvious in more than one presentation today and was successfully demonstrated by the example of arena.ch. We are focusing on providing the participants here and our clients specific information for their IPv6 projects - especially with regard to evaluation and testing criteria for security products. For us, the business case is to offer security devices that have stood the practice test for use with IPv6 and meet the necessary requirements."
Thanks to the Arena IPv6 network, the conference participants were able to experience first hand how the Internet is going to work in the foreseeable future, if no more IPv4 will be available. This setup will become increasingly common. Most of the participants used this opportunity and played with the IPv6-only SSID. Standard web pages worked well, for most users it was also possible to send and receive mails. However, there were also weaknesses. So for instance, not all Android devices could obtain an IPv6 address and certain applications like TeamViewer and Skype did not work.
All presentations and photos of the conference:
To download slides, click on titel of the session. Fotos under "Impression".
Many thanks to our conference sponsors:
