Bye bye 4: IPv6 is now “standard” on Internode, it said today.
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Internode IPv6, or Internet Protocol version 6, hits the primetime today for ADSL2+ and NBN customers “as a standard service”, after a 20 month trial.
IP addresses are used to identify every device connected to the Net but IPv4, the current arrangement, will start to run out this year.
IPv6 a 128-bit protocol, creates a “gobsmackingly” large address space containing 340 undecillion IP addresses (that’s 340 followed by 36 zeroes), which is “more than enough” Internode said today.
On the other hand, it predecessor, IPv4, a 32-bit protocol allowing about 4.3 billion Internet addresses, a paltry number in comparison.
So, IP allocation issues need never be a worry again til say, 3050 (or maybe just infinity).
Internode was the first broadband operator in Australia to offer IPv6 as standard, first announced last year, along with iiNet. although Telstra have since confirmed they are beginning to roll out IPv6 also.
The Adelaide based telco worked on IPv6 adoption for several years, launched a public trial for its ADSL customers in 2009. But most won’t (and shouldn’t) even notice a difference.
“Internode has made sure our customers won’t be disadvantaged by this large, significant change ‘under the hood’ of the Internet,” said Internode managing director, Simon Hackett.
“We’ve been deploying and testing IPv6 since 2008 and our experience with it is now unrivalled.”
However, the telco has customer support on standby to assist with any issues. IP version 6 is now available to all customers on an “opt-in” basis and all routers sold also support dual stack IPv6 arrangement, meaning two addresses will be assigned.
“In the future, we’ll move to an opt-out basis, but for now, any interested customer can activate IPv6 on their broadband service and be assigned a stable /56 prefix of IPv6 addresses.”
IPv6 addresses comprise two parts – the 64-bit network prefix and the 64-bit host address, the ‘local’ network, which means even the smallest network address assignment has an address space much larger than the total number left on the current IPv4 regime.
If a business network administrator wants a larger /48 prefix assignment instead (allowing 65,536 LAN segments), they need to justify that requirement in order to be allocated that larger prefix.
