Yusuke Aoyama
IPv6Style
One of the main attractions of Interop is the conference sessions that cover many different fields. Included among the various panelists that appeared in these sessions were distinguished people, key people in the industry, people at the government authority, etc. This is a report on "Hot IPv6 Topics in 2006" chaired by Prof. Hiroshi Esaki, Graduate School, University of Tokyo.
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Prof. Esaki (University of Tokyo) and Mr. Arano (Intec NetCore)
"IPv6 is like the steam engine" – Mr. Takashi Arano (Intec NetCore)
Mr. Takashi Arano, President of Intec NetCore and a member of the Board of Directors at JPNIC, gave a talk titled "IPv6 Solutions for New Business Fields". The predictions for IPv4 address depletion are becoming serious and there is a pressing need to transition to IPv6. However, awareness of this has not quite spread among average companies yet. Mr. Arano explained how IPv6 transition can be promoted.
Mr. Arano is the chairperson of the IPv6 Promotion Council’s Transition Working Group and he has been supervising many field trials. However, looking back the trials in the past, he says that although trials performed up until 2003 were technologically interesting, many of them did not show a cost advantage or were not trials of real world usage, so they didn’t lead to practical use in a real sense.
However, the "difference" between IPv4 and IPv6 has been correctly recognized since around 2004; he says that there are an increasing number of cases where IPv6 is being adopted in situations where IPv6 is more effective. Based on those cases, he says that the following three models are effective when adopting IPv6: "Smooth Transition", "Force Deployment" and "Solution-Oriented Deployment".
"Smooth Transition" is a model that promotes replacing the equipment at the office with IPv6-ready equipment when it is updated, in anticipation of IPv6 adoption. Companies typically replace their network equipment about every 5-6 years. So, since IPv4 depletion is approaching, if the company needs to replace their equipment within 1-2 years, it is essential for them to either make the entire network IPv6 or at least choose IPv6-ready products. "Force Deployment" is a model where the government forces IPv6 adoption by passing laws and regulations. In the United States, the federal government is requiring that all government equipment be IPv6-ready by 2008. In Japan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is planning to create a similar policy. As you can see, this model promotes IPv6 adoption from the perspective of a public project.The third model "Solution-Oriented Deployment" is a model where the use of IPv6 is promoted as "a technology for solving problems", regardless of the difference between the IPv6 and IPv4 protocols. Considering various methods of building networks, there is a counterargument that things that can be done with IPv6 can also be done with IPv4; however, the opposite also holds true. This model is based on the idea that if you can do the same things using either one, then it is obvious that you should use IPv6 because IPv6 is an effective solution when you consider costs and future possibilities.
If people think about these three IPv6 adoption models together with other things, the adoption of IPv6 will be accepted as something quite obvious.
Mr. Arano continued by comparing current IPv6 technology with the invention of the steam engine. Before the Industrial Revolution, although steam engines were used immediately after they were invented, they were only substitutes for horses and it was not as if people were able to use them in new ways. However, improvements were made and it became more sophisticated. That is when real innovations, such as steamships and steam locomotives, occurred, which led to the Industrial Revolution.
"And so, in terms of history, it has been said that steam engines started the Industrial Revolution. I think IPv6 is in the same situation," says Mr. Amano. Computer networks with IPv4 appear and innovations occur. Then, ubiquitous networks using IPv6 play a role of connecting various things, which leads to creations of completely new services and products. He concluded by saying that when these services and products are created, people will start saying that IPv6 started the innovations.IPv6 and WiMAX are a pair - Mr. Kosuke Ito (IRI Ubiteq)
Mr. Kosuke Ito from IRI Ubiteq gave a talk about the relationship between IPv6 and WiMAX from here on.
WiMAX itself is only a wireless network technology; it works without a problem whether the IP layer is IPv4 or IPv6. However, at the WiMAX Forum where WiMAX technical specifications are devised, they stated that they are going to promote IPv6 as a technology that increases WiMAX’s marketability.
Also, at the IETF, where Internet technology standards are developed, a BOF called "IPv6 over IEEE802.16 networks" has started. At this BOF, they are discussing technical things such as how IP connectivity can be maintained over Mobile WiMAX, which is currently under development for mobile devices; they plan to transit this BOF to a working group soon and to start full scale experiments.
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Mr. Ito (IRI Ubiteq) and Mr. Dolin (Echelon)
Making an entire city energy-efficient using IPv6 - Mr. Robert Dolin (Echelon)
Mr. Robert Dolin from Echelon, the company that developed LonWorks, an open platform that includes Building and Industrial Automation, introduced a case study of an energy conservation program that uses IPv6 for building management in the US.
The case he presented this time was Echelon’s headquarters building, built in 1999 in San Jose, USA. The building management system for the building was originally a traditional non-IP based system; they migrated it to an IP-based system by using LonWorks.
Since the power shortage in California is serious, as was once largely reported, they plan to raise the price of electricity during the peak times in the summer. The price schedule is available on the web and is updated in real time.
At the Echelon headquarters, they were able to conserve energy by making the building management system IP-based, in order to comprehensively monitor the entire building. By raising the room temperature a little bit, within a range of 2.5 degrees, and by making the lighting a little weaker during the peak power usage time (around 2 pm) in the midsummer, he said that they were able to reduce energy usage by 30%.
Of course, they can still individually control lighting and temperature, e.g. for those employees whose work requires brighter lighting and for floors that require lower temperatures. So, they don’t have to force patience on their employees in order to conserve energy, and consequently, the level of satisfaction among their employees is also high.
Currently, LonWorks is IPv4-based and buildings are managed individually; however, once it becomes possible to simultaneously manage multiple buildings by using IPv6, the effects of energy conservation will further increase. Furthermore, if you think about this in terms of the city, state, or country level, you will be able to achieve large-scale reductions in energy use.
Mr. Dolin continued by saying that another technology that Echelon is interested in is WiMAX. According to him, there are still many buildings that do not have a management system in the US; the equipment in those buildings is old and is not connected to the Internet. He said that by using WiMAX, those buildings can connect to the Internet at low costs, and they will be able to use IP-based management systems.
At the end of his talk, Mr. Dolin talked about the influence of society towards adopting new technologies for infrastructures like these. "People and companies tend to oppose to the change because they are already making profits with the current methods. Such old companies resist change by using excuses such as that forcing energy conservation will have an influence on employment and the economy," he said.
However, when looking at the current situation, "Since the energy crisis is already approaching, the primary task given to us is that we act sooner rather than later," he said. He stated that it is important to actively use state-of-the-art technology in order to protect the Earth’s environment.