IPv6: is it really time for action?

Viviane Reding, the EC’s Commissioner for Information Society and Media, is banging the drum for the European Union to move its network infrastructure to the next-generation internet protocol – IPv6.

As with fibre to the home rollouts, the EC is keen to spur both public and private sector organisations into action by pointing out what nations such as Japan and China are doing with IPv6, and warning that again Europe could be falling behind another technology curve.

So does this mean IT managers working in European organisations should be adopting a Corporal Jones stance of “Don’t Panic!” Well, not really.

What with the credit crunch beginning to put the squeeze on system budgets, IT leaders have more than enough to worry about without also having to concern themselves with yet another clarion call from Reding.

In any case, corporate migration to IPv6 would assume that UK carriers and ISPs had already switched over their networks to the standard, or were running both protocols before migrating to an IPv6-only network. This is far from the case, however.

But by promoting IPv6 use now, the EC is at least showing some long-term thinking and ensuring the issue is marked on the corporate radar well before any migration plans become a business necessity.