IPv6 : the big change in the Internet Protocol

The IPv6 standard will be the answer to the numerous problems the IPv4 standard is faced to. The transition between the two protocols has now to be done. The ETSI at Sophia is working on it.

The Internet Protocol has to develop. There's no doubt about it. Heading to a bright future as a federative protocol of the information transport on tomorrow's networks, it will be the one in charge of the complicated task for computers in the entire world to speak the same language. To reach this target, it is necessary to update it : IPv6 will replace IPv4. Today, the challenge is to ensure the transition : the European event IST 2000 has drifted back on this matter of an essential strategic importance in the elaboration of Internet II.The serious limits of IPv4The current version of IPv4 of the famous IETF protocol (Internet Engineering Task Force) doesn't allow to face the requirements linked to the exponential growth in the use of networks : there is far too few possible Internet addresses, for example, non-optimal quality of service, no security or priority standards. The version Ipv6 will be in charge of tackling all these deficiencies.'For many experts, the maximum of Internet addresses with the actual version IP ',noted Patrick Cocquet, director of the Start-Up 6Wind and Vice-Chairman of the Ipv6 forum. during his speech at the European Congress. Then, it is impossible to face such a growing demand from other countries or the necessary ones to create a mobile Internet.'10 years of cohabitation in prospectHowever, this change to the new standard won't take place from a day to another : a cohabitation of 10 years would be necessary between the two versions. Magnus Krampell, from the German Research Institute EURESCOM is working on this matter : 'there are different possibilities for the change from the IPv4 to the IPv6, he explained during a conference. At first, IPv6 standards will cohabit in the middle of a flow of Ipv4 and later, it will be the strict opposite. That's why conversion systems between both IP versions are necessary. 'The ETSI make IPv6 tests easierIn Sophia Antipolis, the ETSI also works to make the application of this standard easier. Reinhard Scholl, from Sophia Institute, has introduced the test sessions organized in Sophia at the beginning of October during the European Conference. ' A standard has to be in accordance with the rule and it has to be interoperable. At the ETSI, IPv6 is tested for this aim. Companies like Compaq, Ericsson, or Nokia confront their implementations to ensure they are in accordance with the rule and that they are compatible. During these tests, we simulate approximately 200 different cases'.Other organisations, like the IMAG ( Computer Science and Maths Institute of Grenoble ), members of the G6test ( French-speaking Group of Ipv6 users ), also offer these test services.