With exhaustion of Internet protocol addresses under the current technology looming large, India is set to join a select group of countries to adopt IPv6 technology, which is considered to be a long-term solution to overcome the limitations of the present IPv4 Internet regime.
In addition to offering almost infinite address space, IPv6 technology is considered as the solution for end-to-end global connectivity and Internet scalability.
It can also dwarf the current network into oblivion as it can support unlimited voice over Internet protocol, grid computing, 3G, gaming, file sharing, remote sensing, ad-hoc networks, mobile devices, intelligent transport systems, consumer electronics and smart homes among other applications.
However, a slew of contentious issues, including the role of the government and the licensor in the transition, are yet to be addressed.
While global players such as Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems and HP and some Indian operators are in favour of the regulator and the government playing a major role, the proposal has been strongly opposed by the Internet Service Providers Association of India (the body representing all ISPs), Sify and MTNL.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has also been entrusted to find solutions to other issues such as policy initiatives, the transition mechanism that is best suited for the migration, the requirement for a national test bed and dividing the transition cost among the stake holders.
"The inclusion of IPv6 as a significant element of a larger national strategy on IT is of critical importance. The subject should be addressed alongside infrastructure issues such as broadband and mobile wireless," said global networking giant, Cisco Systems, in its response to Trai on the issue.
Wipro Technologies has meanwhile said India has already been left behind in adopting the new technology. It has also pointed out that while India's software community was engaged in product development and services related to IPv6 for overseas market, the country was yet to realise this potential.
Countries like Japan, Korea and China were in the forefront along with the EU, as they had deployed research and experiment budgets for this very early on, the company said.
"These countries are in the forefront only because of the government policy and regulations. If the industry is allowed to do it at its own pace, we will not be ready at the appropriate time and sudden migration could result in a shoddy job," Wipro added.
On similar lines, Bharti, too has told the government that migration from IP4 to IPv6 must be carried out in a strict pre-defined time fame.
"The new IP version must be implemented from a pre-decided date and the usage of IP4 must be restricted thereafter," the company said.
Deadlock