{"id":143,"date":"2011-02-03T00:09:10","date_gmt":"2011-02-03T00:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prensa.lacnic.net\/news\/2011-01\/ipv6-telecoms-experience"},"modified":"2011-02-15T18:28:17","modified_gmt":"2011-02-15T18:28:17","slug":"ipv6-telecoms-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lacnic.net\/en\/ipv6-telecoms-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"IPv6: Telecom\u2019s experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When we were invited to share with the community how Telecom Argentina is experiencing the transition from IPv4 to IPv6, memories came back of how we had to explain to the “greater Company” that IPv4 \u2013\u00a0that precious resource\u00a0\u2013 would be soon exhausted.<\/em><\/p>\n

Managing the early stages of IPv6 has shown us that IP communications do not only involve technical issues. IPv6 is a change that we cannot choose to avoid and from which there is no turning back. It involves not only network administrators but also the company as a whole.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the beginning, every time the subject of IPv6 came up we heard comments such as the following:<\/em><\/p>\n

– There\u2019s still a lot of time… let’s talk about this later.<\/em><\/p>\n

– What do you mean IP addresses will run out? <\/em><\/p>\n

– Are you sure? When?<\/em><\/p>\n

Now that day has come and, thanks to all the work that has been done and the plans that have been implemented, Telecom Argentina is prepared to begin the transition to IPv6.<\/em><\/p>\n

Telecom Argentina<\/h3>\n

Telecom Argentina S.A. is a company that provides communications services in Argentina and Paraguay. As at September 9, 2010, its consolidated results showed 17,843,000<\/strong> mobile clients; 1,330,000 broadband accesses; 4,087,000 landlines; and a growth of 18% in net sales of voice, data, Internet and mobile telephone services within the past year.<\/p>\n

Based on current growth estimates for (mobile and fixed) data and Internet services, in 2011 the company will need to assign 1,000,000 new IP addresses to satisfy its clients\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

Transition to IPv6<\/h3>\n

Background at Telecom:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Because the company has always been involved in technological innovation activities, we began preparing projections on the exhaustion of the stock of IPv4 addresses back in 2005. At that time, a goal requiring that all future purchases of new equipment relating to Internet access services, from the backbone to corporate CPE, should comply with the various standards that make up IPv6 was adopted. This decision allowed us to begin acquiring the formal tools required for the new protocol\u2019s future deployment.<\/p>\n

The process of developing the necessary network engineering began in late 2007, focusing on the backbone. This phase included a detailed analysis of the IPv6 support status of existing infrastructure and identifying which hardware and software would have to be replaced due to their obsolescence. Consequently, a replacement plan was prepared that would be executed along with the annual process of expanding required infrastructure during the upcoming periods. Thus, the required investment was gradually absorbed within the normal growth process.<\/p>\n

During 2008 and 2009, capacity plans were executed that provided the network with the hardware and software needed to support IPv6, among other drivers. In parallel, during 2008 and 2009, laboratory testing was conducted and the configuration parameters that would be applied to the network through ad-hoc engineering processes were prepared. During this stage the company worked jointly with the provider, as many of the required functionalities were part of their internal development roadmap but had not yet been released for use.<\/p>\n

During the last quarter of 2009, we began to implement the previously approved logical configurations in the production network, beginning with RFC 4798, 6PE (IPv6 packets transported from PE to PE inside MPLS network) .<\/p>\n

During the second quarter of 2010, the levels of field deployment and reliability that had been achieved were enough to consider backbone IPv6 to be of production quality. For this, the joint work carried out with one of our clients, RIU (Redes de Interconexi\u00f3n Universitaria<\/a>) and our upstream provider, TIS was essential (Seabone is the international backbone of Telecom Italy, property of and operated by Telecom Italia Sparkle<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Towards the end of 2010, laboratory testing for compliance with RFC 4659, 6VPE (IPv6 packets transported from PE to PE inside VPN-MPLS network), was concluded. Field testing and production network deployment are planned for the first quarter of 2011.<\/p>\n

IPv4 Address Management<\/h3>\n

Although Telecom Argentina has always kept its assignment processes in line with LACNIC policies, during 2008 and 2009 the company worked on reorganizing the assignment of all products requiring IPv4 in order to prepare for IPv4 address stock exhaustion. In addition, in order to increase the efficiency in the use of IPv4 address space, an adaptation plan was defined:<\/p>\n