Survey reveals shift in focus to IPv6 adoption

Survey reveals shift in focus to IPv6 adoption

Media release – 29 August 2012

Sent on behalf of the New Zealand IPv6 Task Force - http://tinyurl.com/9tgtmhf

Local awareness and adoption of IPv6 – the ‘next generation’ Internet addressing schema – appears to be maturing, with a recent survey by the IPv6 Task Force indicating an increase in the number of New Zealand organisations planning to implement the protocol.

IPv6 is the ‘next-generation’ method of Internet addressing and is being formally adopted worldwide as the number of existing IPv4 addresses dries up.

The fourth annual ‘CIO Survey’ was conducted earlier this year by the New Zealand IPv6 Task Force in an effort to assess the IPv6-readiness of New Zealand’s largest organisations. It was sent to the country’s Top 100 CIOs as ranked by MIS Magazine, and had a response rate of 26 percent.

Among the survey findings:
• 78% of respondents plan to enable IPv6 on their public Internet services, compared with 44% in 2009.
• 85% of those planning to deploy IPv6 say they will do so in parallel with IPv4. This compares with 43% in 2009.
• 73% of respondents say IPv6 is ‘very’ or ‘extremely important’ when buying ICT equipment, compared with 29% in 2009.
• 92% of respondents are aware that the Asia Pacific region has exhausted its supply of IPv4 addresses, compared with 70% in 2009.
• Only 58% of respondents says IPv6 features in their organisation’s future IT training requirements.
Task Force Convenor Murray Milner acknowledges the survey’s low response rate but says it acts as a barometer of sorts in understanding the overall state of IPv6 readiness in New Zealand.

“We note, for example, that many more organisations appear to be more aware of the risks associated with not adopting IPv6, and the opportunities that adoption gives rise to,” he says.

The IPv6 Task Force also recently surveyed New Zealand telecommunications carriers and service providers to understand how well prepared they are to cope with the IPv6 transition. That survey had a response rate of 37 percent.

61% of respondents to the Carrier & ISP Survey provide IPv6-enabled products and services, compared with 46% in 2011. 85% have evaluated IPv6 support and features in Consumer Premises Equipment, such as home modems and routers, and 79% maintain an IPv6 test environment.

Milner says a challenge this year for both surveys was the lower-than-expected response rates. He advises caution when interpreting the survey numbers.

“The Task Force will keep both surveys running to obtain a clearer view over the long term. The findings do however appear to back up our benchmarking metrics, which offer an alternative, machine-based view of the state of New Zealand’s IPv6 readiness.

“We are comfortable enough with the overall results to suggest that New Zealand’s IPv6 story is moving in the right direction,” he says.

Earlier this year IPv6 received significant profile via the global World IPv6 Launch and, alongside the work of the Task Force, Milner says this appears to have spurred a degree of activity in New Zealand.

“We’re pleased to see more organisations planning to adopt IPv6. The growth and development of the global Internet depends on IPv6 and, for organisations with an Internet presence, it has now become an inescapable requirement.”

Summaries of both surveys are available at http://tinyurl.com/9tgtmhf.

More information about the New Zealand IPv6 Task Force’s activities is available at www.ipv6.org.nz .

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