World IPv6 Day
Encyclopedia
World IPv6 Day was an event sponsored and organized by the Internet Society
and several large content providers to test public IPv6 deployment
. It was announced on January 12, 2011 with five anchoring companies: Facebook
, Google
, Yahoo, Akamai Technologies
, and Limelight Networks
. The event started at 00:00 UTC
on June 8, 2011 and ended 23:59 the same day. The main motivation for the event was to evaluate the real world effects of the IPv6 brokenness
as seen by various synthetic tests. To this end, during World IPv6 Day major web companies and other industry players enabled IPv6 on their main websites for 24 hours. An additional goal was to motivate organizations across the industry – Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors and web companies – to prepare their services for IPv6, so as to ensure a successful transition from IPv4 as address space runs out.
The test primarily consisted of websites publishing AAAA records, which allow IPv6 capable hosts to connect using IPv6. Although Internet service provider
s (ISP) have been encouraged to participate, they were not expected to deploy anything active on that day, just increase their readiness to handle support issues.
Many companies and organizations participated in the experiment, including the largest search engine
s, social networking websites and internet backbone
& content distribution networks.
; Google
; Yahoo; Facebook
; Youtube
; Akamai Technologies
; Limelight Networks
; Microsoft
; Vonage
; AOL
; Mapquest
; T-Online
; Cisco
; Juniper Networks
; Huawei
; US Department of Commerce; Mastercard
; BBC
; and Telmex
.
The largest increase in traffic in consumer access networks was to Google sites, driven by Android devices. Demonstrating the need for content sites to adopt IPv6 for success, the biggest increase was actually in 6to4 transitional technologies.
Early results indicated that the day passed according to plan and without significant problems for the participants.
Cisco
and Google
reported no significant issues during the test.
Facebook
called the results encouraging, and decided to leave their developer site IPv6-enabled as a result. But the consensus was that more work needed to be done before IPv6 could consistently be applied.
The participants will continue to perform detailed analyses of the data. Because most of the Internet infrastructure is already dual stacked, i.e. one for each IPv4 and IPv6, it is not surprising that many participants continue to maintain dual-stacks.
Internet Society
The Internet Society or ISOC is an international, nonprofit organization founded during 1992 to provide direction in Internet related standards, education, and policy...
and several large content providers to test public IPv6 deployment
IPv6 deployment
Internet Protocol Version 6 is the next generation of the Internet Protocol that is currently in various stages of deployment on the Internet...
. It was announced on January 12, 2011 with five anchoring companies: Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, Yahoo, Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies, Inc. is an Internet content delivery network headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.The company was founded in 1998 by then-MIT graduate student Daniel M. Lewin, and MIT Applied Mathematics professor Tom Leighton...
, and Limelight Networks
Limelight Networks
Limelight Networks is a content delivery network service provider. The company is based in Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A., with offices in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Tokyo. The company operates a global fiber-optic network that helps content publishers avoid sending...
. The event started at 00:00 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
on June 8, 2011 and ended 23:59 the same day. The main motivation for the event was to evaluate the real world effects of the IPv6 brokenness
IPv6 brokenness and DNS whitelisting
In the field of IPv6 deployment, IPv6 brokenness is bad behavior seen in tunneled or dual stack IPv6 deployments where unreliable or bogus IPv6 connectivity is chosen in preference to working IPv4 connectivity...
as seen by various synthetic tests. To this end, during World IPv6 Day major web companies and other industry players enabled IPv6 on their main websites for 24 hours. An additional goal was to motivate organizations across the industry – Internet service providers, hardware makers, operating system vendors and web companies – to prepare their services for IPv6, so as to ensure a successful transition from IPv4 as address space runs out.
The test primarily consisted of websites publishing AAAA records, which allow IPv6 capable hosts to connect using IPv6. Although Internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s (ISP) have been encouraged to participate, they were not expected to deploy anything active on that day, just increase their readiness to handle support issues.
Many companies and organizations participated in the experiment, including the largest search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
s, social networking websites and internet backbone
Internet backbone
The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet...
& content distribution networks.
Participants
There were more than 400 participants included some of the most heavily accessed destinations on the Internet, content distribution networks, as well as various Internet service and infrastructure providers including: ComcastComcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
; Yahoo; Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
; Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
; Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies
Akamai Technologies, Inc. is an Internet content delivery network headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US.The company was founded in 1998 by then-MIT graduate student Daniel M. Lewin, and MIT Applied Mathematics professor Tom Leighton...
; Limelight Networks
Limelight Networks
Limelight Networks is a content delivery network service provider. The company is based in Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A., with offices in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Tokyo. The company operates a global fiber-optic network that helps content publishers avoid sending...
; Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
; Vonage
Vonage
Vonage is a publicly held commercial voice over IP network and SIP company that provides telephone service via a broadband connection. The company's name is a play on their motto "Voice-Over-Net-AGE"....
; AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
; Mapquest
MapQuest
MapQuest is an American free online web mapping service owned by AOL. The company was founded in 1967 as Cartographic Services, a division of R.R. Donnelley & Sons in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1969. When it became an independent company in 1994, it was...
; T-Online
T-Online
T-Online, a former subsidiary and now business unit of Deutsche Telekom, is the biggest internet service provider in Germany. It evolved out of the proprietary German Bildschirmtext information service in 1995...
; Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
; Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks is an information technology and computer networking products multinational company, founded in 1996. It is head quartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA. The company designs and sells high-performance Internet Protocol network products and services...
; Huawei
Huawei
Huawei is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China...
; US Department of Commerce; Mastercard
MasterCard
Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...
; BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
; and Telmex
Telmex
Telmex is a telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and other countries in Latin America. In addition to traditional fixed-line telephone service, Telmex also offers Internet access, data,...
.
Results
Major carriers measured the percentage of IPv6 traffic of all Internet traffic as increasing from 0.024 to 0.041 with respect to native and tunneled stacks combined.The largest increase in traffic in consumer access networks was to Google sites, driven by Android devices. Demonstrating the need for content sites to adopt IPv6 for success, the biggest increase was actually in 6to4 transitional technologies.
Early results indicated that the day passed according to plan and without significant problems for the participants.
Cisco
Cisco
Cisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
reported no significant issues during the test.
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
called the results encouraging, and decided to leave their developer site IPv6-enabled as a result. But the consensus was that more work needed to be done before IPv6 could consistently be applied.
The participants will continue to perform detailed analyses of the data. Because most of the Internet infrastructure is already dual stacked, i.e. one for each IPv4 and IPv6, it is not surprising that many participants continue to maintain dual-stacks.
External links
- After World IPv6 Day, what's next? - Engineers from Cisco, Google, Hurricane ElectricHurricane ElectricHurricane Electric is a global Internet backbone , with a specific focus on IPv6. Hurricane Electric operates datacenters in the San Francisco Bay Area, primarily within the city of Fremont...
, and Yahoo! discuss the deployment work done for World IPv6 Day and share the experience learned. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of the seminar on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
)