Prof Latif Ladid, President of the IPv6 Forum, recently gave a keynote address at the Gate2Chain Blockchain, Tourism and the Future of the Internet Conference in Palma, Mallorca.
Ladid’s presentation focused on IPv6 as a key technology alongside a scalable blockchain to facilitate a wide array of promising technologies in the future. To start his talk, Ladid gave a brief history of the Internet. Ladid mentioned how the rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union, particularly in the space race, led to the invention of ARPANET, which is today seen as an important predecessor of today’s internet.
He further highlighted the connection between military research and commercial innovation, noting that many military innovations are top secret and only later commercialised. He also mentioned the importance of investing in infrastructure for economic growth.
Why switch from IPv4 to IPv6?
Ladid also discussed recent developments with IPv6 and its adoption. He explained that while IPv4 is still widely used, and has many shortcomings that hinder innovation in many areas.
In 1989, Vint Cerf, one of the inventors of IPv4 along with Bob Kahn, gave 20 million IP addresses to the Queen of the U.K. when the Internet was introduced to the country. The address space of IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) was almost depleted by half at that point, leading immediately to the need for a new version.
Ladid compares having an IP address to having a phone number, stating that it allows individuals to conduct business and transactions on the Internet. He mentions that the Internet was designed based on the postal office system, with source and destination addresses similar to sending a letter.
As a successor to IPv4, IPv6 was selected in 1998 but faced resistance and a lack of product support from vendors. However, eventually, IPv6 was adopted and became crucial for the development of the 3G and the wireless Internet revolution.
Ladid emphasises the importance of learning from past experiences in adopting new technologies and suggests that BSV is the right choice for a blockchain due to its unbounded scalability with use cases across various industries. He also emphasises the need for governments to apply rules in these sectors and verify their compliance.
Prospects of IPv6 – a key technology for innovation
Ladid further discussed the benefits of IPv6, including auto-configuration, which eliminates the need for an engineer to manually configure devices. He highlights that IPv6 is automatic and does not require additional setup, making it ideal for IoT applications with LoRa, a standard for Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN ).
He further discussed various features of the Internet, including the need for two-way communication for end-to-end connectivity. A technical aspect that is highly relevant for thing-to-thing communication in IoT.
Ladid also mentions that multicast, a more efficient way of communication compared to broadcast, is important in IPv6. He emphasises that IPv6 allows for unique and always-on IP addresses, with features such as privacy and security. He believes that IPv6 is moving from a research topic to a production protocol, with applications like blockchain becoming more prominent.
Deployment of IPv6
Ladid notes that Asia, particularly China and India, are leading in IPv6 deployment due to their eagerness to adopt new technologies. China has a significant number of IPv6 users, with 80% of 5G deployment happening in China, serving around half a billion people. India, with a large population of 1.4 billion people, has limited IPv4 addresses and is deploying IPv6 directly, with Reliance Jio, a telecom company from India, becoming the largest ISP in the world with 250 million users.
He noted that Asia will likely benefit the most from these new technologies, and also briefly hinted that Spain could take advantage of similar investments in their infrastructure.