New home routers must support IPv6, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued a document

According to the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Launching the 2019 IPv6 Network Readiness Special Action" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") on the 16th. The "Notice" mentioned that all newly deployed home gateway devices should support IPv6, and the default configuration should support IPv4/IPv6 dual stacks, and be able to allocate IPv6 addresses to devices under the gateway; by the end of 2019, 70% of the existing smart home gateways will be upgraded to IPv6. The companies involved include TP-LINK, D-LINK, Huawei, Tenda, Asus, Netgear, Xiaomi, etc. Newly produced home routers should support IPv6, and push firmware versions that support IPv6 to existing home router devices.

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The special action pointed out in the "Notice" includes six key tasks:

1. Network infrastructure IPv6 capabilities are ready

The backbone network, metropolitan area network and access network have fully completed IPv6 transformation, and opened the IPv6 service bearing function; by the end of 2019, the eight Internet backbone direct connection points in Wuhan, Xi'an, Shenyang, Nanjing, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Guiyang/Gui'an and Fuzhou will complete the IPv6 upgrade and transformation, and support the exchange of IPv6 traffic between Internet networks.

Basic telecommunications companies allocate IPv6 addresses to all mobile and fixed terminals that support IPv6; improve the IPv6 dedicated line product activation process, quickly open IPv6 dedicated line access for government and enterprise customers and support the allocation of IPv6 addresses. Starting from June 2019, IPv6 addresses will be allocated to government and enterprise customers who have signed new or renewed service contracts based on customer needs.

(II) Application infrastructure improves IPv6 service carrying capacity

The data centers of basic telecommunications enterprises have fully completed IPv6 transformation and provide users with IPv6-based Internet data center services; by the end of 2019, data center operators such as 21Vianet, Pengbo, Qinhuai Technology, Xinnet, Founder Information, West Digital, GDS, and Guanghuan New Network will complete the IPv6 transformation of internal networks and export equipment of large and above data centers.

Wangsu Technology, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, ChinaCache, Kingsoft Cloud, 21Vianet, UCloud, Baishan Cloud, Qiniu Cloud, and China Mobile have completed the IPv6 transformation of their content distribution networks (CDNs), providing IPv6 traffic optimization and dispatching capabilities nationwide. By the end of 2019, CDN's IPv6 local coverage will reach more than 85% of its IPv4 local coverage, and the IPv6 bandwidth will reach 10% of its IPv4 bandwidth.

Alibaba Cloud, Tianyi Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Wo Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Mobile Cloud, Baidu Cloud, Kingsoft Cloud, JD Cloud, UCloud, QingCloud and other cloud service companies have completed the dual-stack transformation of cloud platforms. By the end of 2019, 70% of public cloud products including IPv6 cloud hosts, load balancing, content distribution, domain name resolution, cloud desktops, object storage, cloud databases, API gateways, Web application firewalls, DDOS high defense, elastic IPS, etc. will be transformed to IPv6; according to customer needs, government cloud products that support IPv6 will be provided.

(III) Enhanced IPv6 support capabilities of terminal devices

The factory default configuration of relevant mobile terminals newly applying for network access from brands such as Huawei, Apple, Samsung, ZTE, Xiaomi, OPPO, VIVO, Meizu, Lenovo, OnePlus, Gionee, TCL, and Hisense supports IPv4/IPv6 dual stack; terminal manufacturers should speed up system software upgrades and promote existing mobile terminals to support IPv6.

All newly deployed home gateway devices should support IPv6, and be configured by default to support IPv4/IPv6 dual stack, and be able to allocate IPv6 addresses to devices connected to the gateway; by the end of 2019, 70% of the existing smart home gateways will be upgraded to IPv6.

Newly produced home routers by TP-LINK, D-LINK, Huawei, Tenda, ASUS, Netgear, Xiaomi and other companies should support IPv6, and push firmware versions that support IPv6 to existing home router devices.

(IV) Websites and Internet application ecosystems are accelerating their upgrade to IPv6

All subordinate units of the Ministry, all subordinate universities, communications administration bureaus of all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and their directly affiliated institutions should complete the IPv6 transformation of their portal websites. New websites and external systems should fully support IPv6 access.

The portal websites, online business halls, self-operated mobile Internet applications (APPs) and corresponding servers of the basic telecommunications enterprise group and its subordinate provincial companies all support IPv6 access and can count the number of active IPv6 users.

App Store, 360 Mobile Assistant, Wandoujia, OPPO Software Store, Baidu Mobile Assistant, Huawei App Market, Xiaomi App Store, VIVO App Store, MM Mall, Wo Store, and Tianyi Space shall conduct IPv6 support detection and identification for the apps on the shelves according to unified methods and detection tools; since June 2019, each app store shall set up a special area for apps that support IPv6 in a conspicuous location and recommend users to use them; by the end of 2019, all new apps on the shelves of each app store should support normal operation in an IPv6 network environment.

Developers should consider supporting IPv6 access when developing apps, software development kits (SDKs), and server-side programs.

Typical industries and key industrial enterprises are encouraged to actively carry out pilot demonstrations of industrial Internet network and application transformation based on IPv6, and promote the integration and application innovation of IPv6 in emerging fields such as the industrial Internet and the Internet of Things.

(V) IPv6 network and service performance continues to improve

We will continue to optimize IPv6 network transmission performance and enhance the IPv6 service capabilities of data centers, content distribution networks, and cloud service platforms. By the end of September 2019, IPv6 network infrastructure and application infrastructure will provide users with services of similar quality to IPv4, with average packet loss rate, latency, and other indicators not deteriorating by more than 10% compared to IPv4 performance.

(VI) Further strengthening of IPv6 network security

All enterprises should further improve their network security management system to cover IPv6 security protection and management requirements; simultaneously upgrade IPv6 network security protection measures such as firewalls/WAF, IDS/IPS, and 4A systems; simultaneously transform network security monitoring and disposal systems such as zombie and worm monitoring and disposal systems, mobile Internet malicious program monitoring and disposal systems, Internet log retention systems, and IDC/ISP information security management systems; by the end of 2019, complete the upgraded and transformed basic networks, business systems, CDN/IDC, cloud service platforms, domain name systems, and other network and system units’ classification filing, conformity assessment, and risk assessment and other network security protection work.

Relevant institutions shall carry out the formulation and revision of standards related to IPv6 network security protection, such as IP bearer networks, CDN/IDC, core routers, and security protection equipment. Set up an IPv6 test environment and verify the effectiveness of network security protection measures deployed by relevant enterprises through methods such as network security vulnerability crowd testing. Through network security pilot demonstrations and other methods, support relevant enterprises and institutions to carry out research on IPv6 network security threat prevention and response in emerging fields such as industrial Internet, Internet of Things, Internet of Vehicles, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence.

Editor's comments:

In the future, IPv6 will become a standard feature in cutting-edge technologies such as “cloud, big data, the Internet of Things and mobile Internet”. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has once again issued a notice to operators, equipment manufacturers and related companies to accelerate the implementation of the transition to IPv6 technology, which will further promote the accelerated deployment of the next generation Internet based on IPv6.