What does “IPv6” have to do with us ordinary people?

What is IPv6? Why did it attract widespread attention at the 4th World Internet Conference? What does IPv6 have to do with ordinary people...

IPv6, a term that is still unfamiliar to ordinary people, has become a "hot word" at the World Internet Conference. From the key promotion at the release of leading scientific and technological achievements, to the slightly sci-fi display at the "Light of the Internet" Expo, the heated discussions among the guests, to the technology layout between major countries outside the conference, all indicate that the next generation of the Internet will have a "big explosion".

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What is IPv6? It can "add a URL to every grain of sand in the world"

IPv6 is the abbreviation of "Internet Protocol Version 6". It is the next generation Internet core protocol designed by the International Internet Standardization Organization IETF to replace the current version of IPv4. Compared with IPv4, which has 4.2 billion IP addresses, IPv6 can theoretically provide 2 to the 128th power of IP addresses, which can almost "generate a URL for every grain of sand in the world."

What is IPv6 equivalent to? Yu Yingtao, president of H3C, who attended the Fourth World Internet Conference, made a vivid metaphor: "In my opinion, IPv4 and IPv6 are equivalent to the oil fields of the Internet, and IP addresses are the oil. Now IPv4 resources are basically exhausted and it is difficult to continue to mine, while IPv6 is gushing out oil in an endless stream."

The Internet is made up of a massive number of IP addresses. 4.2 billion IP addresses are already unimaginably large, but with the explosive development of mobile Internet, a large number of computers, mobile phones, smart home appliances, and wearable devices have begun to connect to the Internet. The public URL resources originally provided by IPv4 are almost exhausted and the service quality is difficult to guarantee.

"The promotion of IPv6 is inevitable for the development of the Internet." Wu Jianping, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Tsinghua University, said that IPv6 can not only solve the problem of insufficient IPv4 addresses, but also has the potential to solve the obstacles for various access devices to connect to the Internet, laying the network foundation for the era of the Internet of Everything.

Why IPv6 has become a hot topic in Wuzhen? Experts explain it to you

Amid the sound of inspiring music, a huge virtual Internet architecture diagram appeared on the black screen. This was the release site of the World Internet Conference's leading scientific and technological achievements. Among them was the key technology of the next-generation Internet, which drew applause from the audience when it was introduced: my country's university network technology innovation group, represented by Tsinghua University, has made major technological breakthroughs in the pure IPv6 next-generation Internet backbone and real source address verification.

Although there have been many scientific research results, it is regrettable that my country's IPv6 usage has always been relatively low in the world. On the large screen at the "Light of the Internet" booth of the China Internet Network Information Center, the distribution, application and support of IPv6 in the top 500 websites in my country are clearly displayed.

The pink circle that occupies almost nine-tenths of the monitoring screen shows: IPv6 is not supported. "IPv6 is still in its initial stage of commercial application," said Bi Shouwen, Vice President of H3C Group and Deputy General Manager of Product Marketing.

Regardless of whether it is "fast" or "slow" in scientific research development and commercial applications, it is undeniable that from the Internet of Everything to providing opportunities for multiple countries to participate in the construction of root servers, the next-generation Internet based on the IPv6 protocol is rapidly changing the face and structure of the existing Internet.

IPv6 is not only receiving attention at the 4th World Internet Conference held in Wuzhen, but has also long been a hot topic in some developed countries. According to Liu Dong, director of the National Engineering Center for Next Generation Internet, the center launched the "Snowman Project" in 2013 in collaboration with relevant operating organizations and professionals in Japan and the United States, proposing a complete set of root server solutions and technical systems based on IPv6, oriented to emerging applications, and autonomous and controllable.

IPv6 has become a hot topic, which is inseparable from China's efforts in this field. In 2016, the "Snowman Project" completed the installation of 25 IPv6 root servers in 16 countries around the world, including the United States, Japan, India, Russia, and Germany. Among them, one main root and three auxiliary roots were deployed in China, which will fill the gap and lay a solid foundation for the establishment of a multilateral, democratic, and transparent international Internet governance system.

How does the light of IPv6 shine into ordinary people's homes?

Previously, in the IPv6 demonstration project, operators, equipment manufacturers, and application service providers participated on a large scale, which played a positive role in the evolution from IPv4 to IPv6. What kind of changes will the integration of IPv6 bring to enterprises and individuals? What kind of relationship will it have with ordinary people?

Liu Dong said that IPv6 is not a cost for enterprises, but an investment. IPv6 is closely related to the application of big data, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, etc., and contains a lot of business opportunities. This conference proposed to cultivate new growth points and form new momentum. The integration of IPv6 and the real economy will become a model in this regard.

For every netizen, the full promotion of IPv6 means higher speed, more convenience and greater security. Ant Financial senior technical expert Ma Jieyue said that IPv6 can effectively trace the source address and has a verification system for the source address, which can better meet the identity authentication and network attack resistance required by financial-level applications, which is equivalent to assigning a "network ID card" to everyone technically.

"IPv6 can accurately locate addresses." Wu Hequan, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chairman of the Internet Society of China, said that in the future IPv6 addresses will be like telephone numbers. The first few digits of the number will tell you where the user registered from, and your identity information will be displayed, because each address is truly unique.