Internode announces IPv6 support for every client
Australian telecoms are progressing in their migration to IPv6.
By Donna DonnowitzAugust 17, 2011
According to iTech Report, Australian internet service provider Internode has announced that all of its clients now have the option of getting an IPv6 address.
The new protocol permits many more addresses than IPv4. IPv6 is the path of the future utilizing 128-bit addresses as opposed to IPv4′s 32-bit address system. Still, many companies have so far resisted a push to change to IPv6 because of the high cost and changes needed as a result of incompatible network devices for the new protocol, says the report.
However, after trialing the IPv6 rollout for select ADSL customers, Internode says it is now ready to be the first Australian ISP to roll out support of the standard to all of its customers. This includes clients of both their ADSL services and on the high-speed National Broadband Network now being rolled out across Australia, the report notes.
Each user on the internet is assigned a unique numerical internet protocol, however thanks to the growing popularity of mobile devices and the massive growth of computers across the globe, allocations of the IPv4 standard addresses are nearly gone, says the report.
"We’ve been deploying and testing IPv6 since 2008 and our experience with it is now unrivalled in Australia," says the company, "In the future, we’ll move to an opt-out basis, but for now, any interested customer can activate IPv6 on their broadband service and be assigned a stable /56 prefix of IPv6 addresses."
Any Internode ADSL clients can now opt-in to use IPv6 rather than IPv4 for their address allocation, with the company giving out customers addresses from the /56 pool of IPv6 addresses, says the report. As a result, Internode is currently also providing full support for customers opting for the IPv6 allocation standard, with all routers sold by the ISP now IPv6 compatible. Most other carriers in Australia have also tested IPv6 on their networks, but many say for now they are waiting to introduce IPv6.
According to a recent Computerworld report, iiNet has included the protocol on its features roadmap for some time. Telstra has yet to confirm a timeframe for a complete customer transition to the protocol. Optus has not committed to a time-frame when customers would begin to see IPv6 up and running over the carrier. Exetel says that an IPv6 deployment was planned in near future, but could not provide a time frame. Finally, TPG plans to offer a trial IPv6 environment this year.
The new protocol permits many more addresses than IPv4. IPv6 is the path of the future utilizing 128-bit addresses as opposed to IPv4′s 32-bit address system. Still, many companies have so far resisted a push to change to IPv6 because of the high cost and changes needed as a result of incompatible network devices for the new protocol, says the report.
However, after trialing the IPv6 rollout for select ADSL customers, Internode says it is now ready to be the first Australian ISP to roll out support of the standard to all of its customers. This includes clients of both their ADSL services and on the high-speed National Broadband Network now being rolled out across Australia, the report notes.
Each user on the internet is assigned a unique numerical internet protocol, however thanks to the growing popularity of mobile devices and the massive growth of computers across the globe, allocations of the IPv4 standard addresses are nearly gone, says the report.
"We’ve been deploying and testing IPv6 since 2008 and our experience with it is now unrivalled in Australia," says the company, "In the future, we’ll move to an opt-out basis, but for now, any interested customer can activate IPv6 on their broadband service and be assigned a stable /56 prefix of IPv6 addresses."
Any Internode ADSL clients can now opt-in to use IPv6 rather than IPv4 for their address allocation, with the company giving out customers addresses from the /56 pool of IPv6 addresses, says the report. As a result, Internode is currently also providing full support for customers opting for the IPv6 allocation standard, with all routers sold by the ISP now IPv6 compatible. Most other carriers in Australia have also tested IPv6 on their networks, but many say for now they are waiting to introduce IPv6.
According to a recent Computerworld report, iiNet has included the protocol on its features roadmap for some time. Telstra has yet to confirm a timeframe for a complete customer transition to the protocol. Optus has not committed to a time-frame when customers would begin to see IPv6 up and running over the carrier. Exetel says that an IPv6 deployment was planned in near future, but could not provide a time frame. Finally, TPG plans to offer a trial IPv6 environment this year.
