 |
|
DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / JULY 7, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 27
|
Special Features:
IPv6: THE CORNERSTONE OF A GLOBAL
WIRED WORLD
by Neil Alger, Co-Editor, GRIDtoday
The North American IPv6 Global Summit convened in San Diego recently at San
Diego State University, bringing pioneers and visionaries of a future Internet
together. Aimed at speeding the implementation of the next level protocol for
global networking, summit speakers focused on the pressing needs for a quick
yet complete changeover from the aging IPv4 to an IPv6-enabled world. Keynote
speakers at the event included CalIT(2) head Larry Smarr and the Department of
Defense's John Osterholz, whose participation in the event signals the
increased visibility and momentum of the IPv6 movement.
The End of the Internet? (Growing Pains)
At the heart of the Internet that we are familiar with today lies the world
of
IP addressing. In its early stages, every computer attached to the Internet
could have its own unique 12 digit IP address, which acts as a signature, or
place marker, on the World Wide Web. IPv4 uses a 32-bit address space, which
equates to approximately 4.2 billion unique number addresses. In the last 20
years (IPv4 came online officially on Jan 1, 1983 ) , these 4.2 billion
possible addresses have gone from appearing nearly infinite to being not
nearly enough.
According to keynote speaker Latif Ladid, president of the IPv6 Forum, 65%
of
all available IPv4 addresses have already been assigned. And while the number
of networked computers worldwide is on the rise, the real threat to the
remaining address space is the rise of technologies such as Voice Over IP
(VOIP), digital entertainment, video conferencing, and the ubiquity of PDA-
style products with increasing network capabilities. The vision of a network
enabled "information environment" is likely to rely heavily on IP addressing,
exacerbating the need for an expanded address space.
An Interim Solution
In an attempt to prolong the life of the available IPv4 address space,
enterprises have been forced to deploy Network Address Translation devices
(NATs), which allow a series of computers to be differentiated under a single
IP address using what is called IP-sharing. While the use of NATs has been
effective at allowing enterprises that only have a handful of IP addresses to
allow large numbers of employees to have access to the Internet, as with any
jerry-rigged solution, there are downsides.
The implementation of NATs means that it is impossible to have a true
peer-to-
peer connection; all traffic has to be routed through the NAT before it
reaches the end user. One ramification of this setup is that data transmitted
over the Internet is not as private as it could be going straight from one
address to another. Another issue is that more and more applications will
likely appear that require end-to-end connectivity, and as a result,
enterprises with NATs in place will have to find ways to workaround this
'speed-bump' in their system. In short, NATs represents a serious impediment
to the evolution of the Internet in the coming century.
The Politics of IPv4
The Internet has arguably been the most important technological revolution
of
the late 20th century, bringing people across the world together and beginning
the process of democratizing access to information for the 21st. But to be
present on the Internet, you need to have IP address space to colonize, so to
speak. According to an April 7, 2003 report by Cyber Area Research, the United
States has been assigned almost 67% of the total claimed IP address space.
Next in line is Japan, with less than 6%, followed by Canada and then Great
Britain. China, with one of the largest populations in the world, has been
assigned less than 2%, and India a measly .14%. For these countries, NATs
becomes the only viable option for inclusion in the Internet, effectively
stunting their potential growth within the international virtual
community.
IPv6 Democratizes Computing
The implementation of IPv6 would increase the total number of available IP
addresses from 4.2 billion to 3.4X10^38, by switching from a 32-bit to a 128-
bit address space. With this drastic increase in the total pool of possible
addresses, countries that have at this point only been allocated a fraction of
a percent of the total address space could be freed up from those limitations,
thereby securing a global, culturally ubiquitous future for the Internet.
Furthermore, with the sudden growth in the size of the address space, NATs
could be phased out, allowing for more private and secure interactions over
the global network, making way for the next generations of killer apps and new
functionalities.
IP Defense
One of the early adopters for the use of IPv6 is the US Department of
Defense,
which recently announced that all DOD platforms will run on the IPv6 stack by
the year 2008. John Osterholz, the Director of Architecture and
Interoperability at the DOD, outlined a vision of the military of the (near)
future, where every tank and every soldier becomes an IP-enabled platform. The
DOD sees the move to IPv6 as key to its Global Information Grid strategy,
because it simplifies and strengthens the existing IP network solution,
without the potential hazards inherent in a NATs-style workaround. As
Osterholz said, "it's no longer 'Do you trust your children on the Internet?,
but 'Do you trust the Internet with your children?"
The DOD is pushing rapidly forward with their roadmap to IPv6 in 2008,
starting with the identification of testbeds and pilots in the next 30 days.
Osterholz told the attendees of the summit to look for large-scale pilots in
the near future, explaining that smaller scale tests would likely prove less
useful considering the final size of a full DOD implementation. He also called
to vendors of IPv6 related technologies to focus on interoperability,
backwards compatibility, and quality of product, explaining that the DOD has
no interest in moving forwards into a single-vendor IPv6 solution.
|