The Internet Society has opened an office in Singapore to promote the adoption of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in the region, among other key initiatives.
While Asia-Pacific became the first region in the world to run out of IPv4 addresses last April, many businesses have not warmed up to IPv6 as existing addresses are expected to be in use for a long time. Moreover, without consumers hooking up to IPv6 through Internet service providers (ISPs), there is little incentive for companies to jump on the bandwagon.
For now, early adopters of IPv6 tend to be network service providers, which have seen demand for IPv6 services from large corporate customers looking to future-proof their networks, or take advantage of IPv6’s inherent features such as peer-to-peer networking.
To promote greater awareness of IPv6, the Internet Society will be organising a World IPv6 Launch event on June 6, when major ISPs, home networking equipment manufacturers and Web companies around the world will permanently enable IPv6 for their products and services.
Apart from promoting IPv6, the new outfit also hopes to improve Internet access across the region, said Rajnesh Singh, regional director of the Internet Society’s Asia-Pacific bureau in a media briefing Monday. The bureau would also work with organisations such as the OECD on Internet-related policy matters such as privacy, broadband access for rural communities and security.
The Internet Society has over 16,000 active members in the Asia-Pacific region, according to its president and CEO Lynn St. Amour. It has also established other regional bureaus in North America, Africa and Middle East, Europe, plus Latin America and the Caribbean.
