Carrier Channel: IPv6 Peering Coming to America

Posted: 3/2003

IPv6 Peering Coming to America

Like many progressive peering
models, IPv6 traffic exchange is coming to America with European carriers.

"One of the driving factors for
IPv6 is the 3G phenomenon, which is being widely accepted in Europe and the Far
East," says Richard Mataka, director of sales and marketing for TELEHOUSE
International Corp. of America, operator of neutral colocation and Internet
exchange points. "All these handheld devices are Internet-capable, which
means every device out there is going to require an IP address. One of the big
advantages of moving to an IPv6 is the addition of a tremendous number of
additional addresses, so that these devices can be addressed in the future.
" TeleHouse America announced in late January opening its first U.S.-based
IPv6 peering exchange at its New York International Internet Exchange (NYIIX)
after being in development and testing at TELEHOUSE America since January 2001.

In a press statement, the company
notes its move towards IPv6 stems from the increased pressure on the existing IP
protocol, IPv4, including the dwindling number of available IP addresses, need
for multicasting capabilities, security requirements and demand for enhanced
quality of service, particularly for applications such as voice over IP. IPv6 is
able to generate IP addresses for a number of devices, such as PDAs, car
navigation systems and next-generation vending machines, to name a few.

Tiscali International Network, the
carrier arm of Tiscali Spa, a European Internet company, is the first
international carrier to connect to the NYIIX IPv6 Exchange. Tiscali
International Network also has deployed native IPv6, across all of more than 40
PoPs in Europe and the United States.

Equinix Inc. also has had two IPv6
exchange points — in Washington D.C. and San Jose, Calif. — operational for
the past year with private IPv6 peering dating back to the company’s genesis.
Jay Adelson, Co-founder and CTO for Equinix, says the company also has seen some
pickup in activity. "Some European carriers, some Japanese carriers have
hooked up to our IPv6 recently," he says. "I still think it’s
relatively experimental. But I think that’s encouraging."

Adelson says adoption is slow
because there is no impetus to change from IPv4. "A lot of people were
afraid that the IpPv4 addresses would disappear and they would be forced to
convert over, but that crisis has yet to occur, so there is no sense of urgency
forcing people to convert over to IpPv6," he says, noting the only driver
that could accelerate the transition is a killer application like
next-generation wireless.

"I think that the killer app —
wireless data — is taking a while to gain a foothold, but it probably will be
the leader that drives Ipv6 in the future."

Adelson says none of Equinix’s
customers now are passing commercial traffic over its IPv6 exchanges.