QQ and WeChat will realize IPv6 transformation within this year. Why Tencent embraces IPv6

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On January 7, Tencent Cloud Vice President Chen Ping stated at the IPv6 (Internet Protocol Version 6) Intelligent Connection Upgrade Conference that Tencent Cloud will achieve IPv6 in all in 2019, promoting the IPv6 strategy across the entire ecosystem.

At present, Tencent's core products such as Tencent.com, Tencent Games, Tencent Video, and QQ Browser have fully supported IPv6, and QQ and WeChat will also complete IPv6 technology transformation in 2019. In 2019, Tencent will become one of the companies with the most IPv6 users in the world.

Compared with IPv4, which has limited address resources, IPv6 can provide more abundant network addresses and stronger network carrying capacity. The development of IPv6 network is also regarded as one of the basic conditions for the development of emerging technologies such as mobile Internet, cloud computing (CLOUD), big data (BIG DATA), artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Not long ago, Alibaba announced that it would fully embrace IPv6 and cooperate with China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Education Network to achieve full integration of "cloud-pipe-end" and connect Taobao, Youku, and AutoNavi. Subsequently, Baidu Cloud also "quickly" launched an IPv6 transformation plan. So why did the giant invest heavily in IPv6 at this time?

Solving the address exhaustion problem

IPv6 is the abbreviation of Internet Protocol Version 6, which means the sixth version of Internet Protocol. IPv6 is the next generation IP protocol designed by IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) to replace IPv4. The introduction describes that it has so many IP addresses that one can be assigned to every grain of sand in the world.

The biggest problem with IPv4 is that network address resources are limited, which seriously restricts the application and development of the Internet. Data shows that as of January 2018, the number of Internet users in the world has reached 4.021 billion, and IPv4 can only provide about 4.29 billion IP addresses. Among them, North America has about 3 billion, Asia, the most populous country, has less than 400 million, and China has only more than 30 million.

The above-mentioned shortage of IP addresses not only hinders individual users' use of the Internet, but also hinders the development of IoT (Internet of Things), and may even make smart homes and life impossible (because every connected smart device requires an IP address). The use of IPv6 can solve the problem of the number of network address resources while solving the obstacles for various access devices to connect to the Internet.

On November 26, 2017, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the Action Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) (hereinafter referred to as the Action Plan). IPv6 is thus regarded as a mobile Internet infrastructure as important as 4G.

Data shows that the IPv6 vertical and horizontal network throughout the country is basically ready, and the five direct connection points of the national Internet backbone have completed IPv6 upgrades and interconnections. As of October 2018, the number of LTE IPv6 users in the country has reached 770 million. There are a total of 840 million broadband users in my country, of which 340 million users access IPv6 networks. This is due to the upgrades and transformations of the three major basic operators.

At the meeting on January 7, representatives from China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom all stated that before the "Two Offices'" Action Plan, they had already listed IPv6 as a key construction project when purchasing equipment several years ago, because IPv6 is not only a technology upgrade, but also an important part of the mobile Internet.

Xie Chongfeng, chief IPv6 expert at China Telecom Research Institute and director of Beijing Key Laboratory of IPv6-based Telecommunications Network Technology, said that the reason why operators have made efforts to transform IPv6 in the past two years is not due to the pressure from the state's repeated urging, but because they truly realize the value of IPv6 to the development of the Internet. China Telecom has been actively connecting to the international track in order to achieve complete transformation earlier.

Duan Xiaodong, director of the Network and IT Technology Research Institute of the China Academy of Mobile Communications, believes that IPv6 is not only an address upgrade, but also the foundation of mobile Internet. 4G and IPv6 should develop simultaneously, which will greatly promote the mobile Internet.

Fighting for Industrial Internet Infrastructure

Providing infrastructure for the Internet of Things and seizing the new "entrance" to the mobile Internet is another reason why BAT giants are rushing to bet on IPv6.

In 2018, domestic Internet giants such as Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu have adjusted their organizational structures, shifting from consumer Internet to industrial Internet, with the purpose of adapting to the changes in artificial intelligence (AI), big data (BIG DATA), and cloud computing (CLOUD). ABC has become a fortress that Internet companies today have to conquer, and structural adjustments are just the organizational methods that each company has chosen to unleash its own capabilities.

The huge business opportunities of the industrial Internet brought by the underlying technologies such as ABC have also become another important reason for the giants to adjust their structures in 2018. This year, how to unleash the capabilities of cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence in the industrial Internet has become a new starting point for BAT and another emerging market worth more than one trillion yuan.

As an important infrastructure in the ABC era, IPv6 will inevitably become a track that giants will compete for. This includes not only upgrading and transforming their own applications to IPv6, but also providing IPv6 integrated upgrade services to industry partners, that is, releasing the ability to serve C-end users to B-end, thereby building an ecosystem and even achieving profitability.