Edging toward the end of IPv4: A new milestone in the history of the internet.
Since the last issue of the IETF Journal went to press, the Internet passed a major milestone in its journey from research network to preeminent global communications medium. The final blocks of unicast IPv4 address space were allocated to the Regional Internet Registries on 3 February 2011. In this issue, Internet Architecture Board (IAB) chair Olaf Kolkmangives us his statement at this juncture in Internet history.
During IETF 79, the Internet Society hosted a panel discussion on the topic “Handheld, Wireless, and Open: Priorities for the Mobile Future Internet.” The diversity of devices now connecting to the Internet is creating new challenges for engineers, operators and users alike. We present a snapshot of the event itself here and on we have a more detailed reflection from Leslie Daigle on some of the issues raised by “The Untethered Future of the Internet.”
In addition to our other regular features, we include an opportunity to get to know the Internet Society Fellows who attended IETF 79 as well as an in-depth look at the challenges being faced by operators in the presence of IPv4 address depletion and the need to deploy IPv6 throughout their service portfolio. Finally, Christian Jacquenet gives us some valuable insight into France Telecom’s recent progress with IPv6 deployment.
As usual, sincere thanks to all our contributors. We invite you to send comments and suggestions for future issues to [email protected].