Global IPv6 Service Launch Event

IPv6 provides
the necessary
basis for realising
a global
information
society

Brussels, 15-16 January, 2004

RATIONALE

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The research and scientific communities around the world are aware of the impact of advanced networks and services. The new Internet Protocol, IPv6, provides the necessary basis for realising a global information society, the underlying e-infrastructure and lays the framework for many new and imaginative network services for the benefit of society. High-speed networks, like GÉANT, offer a whole new way of collaborative research to be carried out within a region and around the globe.

The Global IPv6 Service Launch Event builds on regional activities, conferences and meetings held by the various networking organisations in their region. The Global IPv6 Service Launch Event also builds on the recent achievements of the research and development community in testing and validating the large-scale rollout of IPv6.

IPv6 is the re-design of the Internet Protocol version 4, IPv4, which has been in use for the past 20 years or so. IPv4 is the protocol on which the Internet, as we know it, has been built. While it has proved to be highly successful and resilient, IPv4 was designed when most of today's technologies were not conceived. IPv6 rectifies many of the problems that IPv4 cannot easily address and opens up the way to many exciting and new services and enables a new era of global co-operation.

Through various bilateral discussions in the past a global pattern for research networking on IPv6 could be identified. Drawing from that, it was felt that it is time to take a common global approach to native IPv6 networking for the research community on a worldwide scale. The Global IPv6 Service Launch Event will address and highlight these issues. Subsequent actions will seek to foster further collaboration on related research networking subjects of worldwide interest.

An important goal of the European Union in general, and more particularly of the European Research Area, is to create an environment where researchers living and working in different countries have access to state-of-the-art networking services in order to pursue their research. Together with GÉANT, the national research and education networks and the wider European research networking community provide an e-infrastructure that is the foundation of the European Research Area.

Several large-scale research undertakings in Europe with partners from all over the world started a concerted action at the beginning of 2002 to tackle the issues related to the broad rollout of IPv6. These initiatives are producing impressive results and their impact is recognised widely. In this event these advanced test-bed activities highlight their findings and demonstrate the benefits of IPv6-based networks, services and applications.