ARIN Upgrades IPv6 Network Services with NTT America

NTT America has provided a dual IPv4/6 stack over a Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) connection to the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), the nonprofit corporation that manages the distribution of Internet number resources, including both IPv4 and IPv6 address space, to Canada, many Caribbean and North Atlantic islands, and the United States.


The GigE connection, running both IPv4 and IPv6 or dual stack, ensures website and e-mail communications to and from ARIN are visible over both IPv4 and IPv6. Additionally, all other systems or communications ARIN operates can continue running over IPv6.


The NTT America IPv6 transit service is ARIN's 4th IPv6 deployment and the new IPv6-enabled circuit is an upgrade to an existing NTT America transit circuit. ARIN has had IPv6 deployed on its network since 2003.


NTT America and ARIN noted that only about 15% of the IPv4 address pool remains. The Regional Internet Registries (RIR) have collectively allocated about ten /8s of IPv4 address space each year, on average. If that trend continues unchanged, by mid-2012 ARIN and the other RIRs will no longer be able to allocate large new blocks of IPv4 address space. This scenario assumes that demand does not increase -- which is unlikely, given the ever increasing number of Internet-enabled devices. This scenario also assumes no industry panic (hoarding, withholding, etc.), no Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) or RIR policy changes, and no other external factors influencing address space allocations, any of which could push the IPv4 depletion date earlier. Once IPv4 address space is depleted, Internet growth cannot be sustained without adopting IPv6.


With available /8 address blocks diminishing and annual address allocations increasing, ARIN is now actively advising the Internet community that IPv6 is necessary for any applications that require ongoing availability of contiguous IP address space. Recognizing the inevitability of IPv4 depletion, on May 7, 2007, the ARIN Board of Trustees passed a "Resolution on Internet Protocol Number Resource Availability," stating that IPv6 is necessary to allow continued growth of the Internet. NTT America embraces this call to action for service providers and others that require ongoing availability of IP address space to make immediate efforts to run dual stack within their networks.


"ARIN is a major advocate for IPv6. As one of the five Regional Internet Registries, they have firsthand knowledge and experience with the depletion of IPv4 address blocks and the necessity to move to IPv6," said Michael Wheeler, vice president of Sales and Business Development for NTT America. "The Internet and engineering communities hold ARIN in high regard and this lead-by-example upgrade to IPv6 services will no doubt inspire confidence that IPv6 is important, functional and useable."


http://www.nttamerica.comhttp://www.arin.net/v6/v6-info.html