LACNIC Blog > IPv6 > Pandemic Triggers IPv6 Use in the Region
Pandemic Triggers IPv6 Use in the Region
June 29, 2020
The image below illustrates the major
challenge: the Internet must accelerate its move to IPv6 without any pit stops;
otherwise, there is the risk of having to suddenly hit the brakes and ending up
on the shoulder.
IPv4 addresses are no longer an
option for the Internet to continue to grow and the only way to move forward is
using IPv6 technology.
LACNIC CEO Oscar Robles used this
analogy during his opening remarks for the webinar organized by LACNIC to
celebrate the eighth anniversary of Global IPv6 Launch and IPv6 Day.
The image is not perfect, Robles
explained, but it is a good representation of the challenge the Internet is
facing – changing the wheel (from IPv4 to IPv6) while the car is still running.
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“The significance of this deployment
is that its goal is the coexistence of IPv4 and IPv6 to ensure interactivity,”
LACNIC’s CEO added.
Increasing little by little. Fred Baker, a long-time
participant in the IETF, the organization dedicated to the development of
Internet standards, noted during the webinar that 704 of the 1,728 Internet
drafts under analysis include IPv6 related topics.
As for IPv6 traffic worldwide, based
on Google statistics, Baker said that 69 countries have 5% or more and 12
countries have 40% or more of IPv6 traffic. According to Baker, ten countries
in Latin America have more than 5% of their traffic over IPv6.
“The significance of this deployment
is that its goal is the coexistence of IPv4 and IPv6 to ensure interactivity,”
LACNIC’s CEO added.
Increasing little by little. Fred Baker, a long-time
participant in the IETF, the organization dedicated to the development of
Internet standards, noted during the webinar that 704 of the 1,728 Internet
drafts under analysis include IPv6 related topics.
As for IPv6 traffic worldwide, based
on Google statistics, Baker said that 69 countries have 5% or more and 12
countries have 40% or more of IPv6 traffic. According to Baker, ten countries
in Latin America have more than 5% of their traffic over IPv6.
Alejandro Acosta stressed that LACNIC
promotes the secure deployment of IPv6. He classified potential threats and
pointed out that their behavior is generally similar to those that affect IPv4,
although with certain peculiarities.
During the webinar, Tomas Lynch
defended the robustness of IPv6 and said that he did not understand why people
fear its deployment. “IPv6 was developed 30 years ago; for at least 15 years
everyone has been able to support IPv6, including network devices, laptop
computers, even Windows, etc. So what are people afraid of? This question remains
on my mind because, despite everything, when clients who also have IPv6 and ask
for a service, they ask for IPv4 to IPv6,” said Lynch.
During the pandemic. During his part of the
presentation, LACNIC CTO Carlos Martínez showed updated IPv6 traffic figures
for the region, with special emphasis on what has happened during the
coronavirus pandemic.
He presented a graph showing the number of assignments made by LACNIC and how many of those are visible on the IPv6 routing table. “Almost 49% of the assignments are visible and this number is on the rise. Just two years ago it was 30%, now it is almost 49%,” said Martínez.
Do these numbers show any visible effects of the pandemic?
Records show that there was a change in behavior during the coronavirus pandemic. “People started to work on IPv6,” Martínez stressed.
IPv6 in LATAM
Acosta also referred to IPv6 during the current health emergency. He commented
that an analysis of IPv6 behavior in the LAC region during the months of COVID
19 shows that IPv6 grew by almost 4%. “This figure is equivalent to IPv6 growth
during the whole of 2019,” he added.
And the same can be said about traffic at ASNs. “During the first 32 days, traffic was 8.45%; at the end of June, it had grown to 15.68%, representing an increase of 84.37%.”
Average growth of IPv6 at ASNs
Acosta concluded by saying that IPv6 has experienced a significant growth
during the pandemic. He estimated that, if this growth continues over the
second half of 2020, “it sounds very promising.”
Record number of assignments. In closing, Lorenzo Abelenda, resource analyst at LACNIC, stated that the status of IPv4 exhaustion is one of the main drivers of IPv6. During the first quarter of 2020, LACNIC completed the largest number of IPv6 assignments in the organization’s history. Brazil tops this year’s list of assignments, followed by Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Ecuador.
