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Get set for a new Internet protocol

By Anand Parthasarathy

Bangalore Jan. 24. The Internet is getting too crowded: it's time to hang up a `house full' board and move on to a new numbering system which will allow millions more to enjoy a presence on the World Wide Web.

This was the SOS message of the third Global IPv6 Forum that ended here today. "IP" is Internet Protocol — the software standard that allows anyone to have a Net address: the combination of numbers which is allotted to every website and resource provider.

The currently followed numbering system is IPv4 or version 4 — and it is almost at the saturation point — a couple of years more and one may not be able to have a new address allotted.

The new IPv6 or version 6, by quadrupling the size of the address to 128 bits offers almost an infinite number of addresses even as it facilitates many new features like `plug and play' access to the Net.

Obviously, the changeover will need service providers to upgrade their existing hardware and software. Hemant Dattatreya, president of IPv6 Forum India, explained that while one could still live with the existing protocol for a few years more, it was in India's interest to make the changeover early and reap the benefits that would come by way of outsourced projects to help others make the transition.

This could well be the `Next Wave' of opportunity for the Indian software industry, he felt.

The two days of evangelising seems to have had the desired effect: an IPv6 Metropolitan network group has come together aiming to make Bangalore the first IPv6-enabled city in the country.

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