Why so little IPv6 at Interop?

I returned today from Interop 2008 Las Vegas expo, where I attended to gauge how well prepared exhibitors were for IPv6 network deployment. I was very disappointed that out of the approximately 450 exhibitors on the conference floor, there was only one company that even used the term "IPv6" on the posted exhibitor-list online. When walking around the booths, talking with both hardware and software companies, I was even more amazed at the unknowing responses I received. While I could only sample a percentage of the total exhibitors, a clear trend was coming to light during my discussions.

There are an enormous number of vendors that are either not ready for IPv6, or are simply unwilling to say that supporting IPv6 is the future requirement for enterprise network operators. This future is a lot closer than many expect. Only a handful of the large network hardware vendors at the show were in better shape. I'm sure that's because those companies that have been tracking or leading the IPv6 protocol work within the IETF; however, not many displayed that capability outright on their booths.

IPv6 is our close collective future. It will affect nearly every expo attendee in-some way or- another. Do an online search on what ICANN, IANA, ARIN or even the Whitehouse's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has to say about the needs or requirements for a speedy move to IPv6. Read John Curran's IPv6 Transition plan that was posted as a proposed Internet draft dated January 2008. Heck, make every vendor at that show reads what Network World has to say about this subject!

Perhaps the issue is with the Interop show itself. As a show, Interop has been around for quite some time. The show has always excelled in running a live network, a live NOC and, of course, plenty of live customers showing off their wares while connected to the Internet at high speed. It's 2008 and that network, which is built from scratch every year as a showcase of what's new and exciting, was running in a purely IPv4 world. No IPv6 on the show floor network, no IPv6 supplied by the IP backbone feeding the show, and no IPv6 running on the show's core routers. As I said, this is 2008 and both IP backbones and core router suppliers are fully capable of supplying IPv6 support. Maybe if I was writing about the 2006 expo, I would be out of line; however, this is 2008 and attendees are there to buy for the future, not the past.

So why is Interop so late to the IPv6 world? No good answer seemed to be present. My guess is that it's because Interop itself has a /8's worth of IPv4 space – space allocated back in 1991 specifically for the Interop tradeshows. That's a lot of address space and a quick calculation shows that Interop has permanently allocated nearly half a percent of the presently used IPv4 address space. Maybe that address space should be returned to IANA? Maybe Interop should run a show where IP allocation is also part of the pre-show network planning. Then, maybe, they will see the light and realize that IPv6 is important! Perhaps with IPv6 available, Interop will also start showing off new applications and capabilities that IPv6 brings to the table.

Finally, one last note about address space and IPv6: if you read the press releases or presentations found via the online searches noted above, you can see that IPv4 address space exhaustion is slated for around 2010. That's two years from now, meaning that buying cycles for attendees are being affected today. For a leading international networking show to not address this issue is inconceivable. Maybe those that run the tradeshow and its network don't realize how important this issue is. I, for one, will expect to see major changes when I return to Las Vegas next year, assuming the expo has IPv6 technology worth exhibiting.

Martin J. Levy
Director, IPv6 Strategy
Hurricane Electric

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