Trai today issued its draft recommendations on ‘Transition from IPv4 to IPv6 in India’ to solicit the comments of stakeholders before finalising these for forwarding to the Government.
The primary motivation for deploying IPv6 is considered to be its capability to expand the available IP address space to a very large extent in addition to providing better quality of service, mobility support and security. This is considered necessary in view of fast expanding Internet usage and increased demand on the IP address space.
Background: TRAI had issued a consultation paper on these issues during August’05 highlighting the need for migration to IPv6, Regulatory issues related to migration, Creation of National Internet Registry (NIR), Setting up of IPv6 test bed and adoption of the International best practices. After receiving comments from stakeholders and completing Open House Discussions at Bangalore and Delhi, TRAI has issued the recommendation document and owing to its very technical nature, has asked for comments on the document before finalization.
Recommendations: -
Major thrust of TRAI’s recommendations is in setting up of test beds for experimentation in IPv6 technologies, creation of a National Internet Registry in the country in addition the current Regional Internet Registry, presently located in Australia and bringing awareness about IPv6 through the Govt. Agencies. In addition, the deployment of IPv6 capable equipments in Govt.’s IT projects & networks and also in e-governance application platforms have been recommended.
The salient features of TRAI’s draft recommendations are as follows:
(i) Definition of IP address mentioned in ISP licence to be amended to enable 128 bits to be used as needed for IPv6 based addressing, in place of 32 bits at present.
(ii) The usage of IPv6 in the platforms/applications pertaining to e-governance to be mandated, so that headstart is taken for IPv6 deployments. The Govt. should also mandate IPv6 compatibility in its own procurement of IT systems and networks.
(iii) Workshops and seminars to bring awareness about IPv6 and its benefits for service providers and end-users community should be conducted through Govt. agencies.
(iv) Establishment of National Internet Registry (NIR) in the country, within the framework of APNIC, the Regional Internet Registry, utilizing the existing setup of National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI).
(v) Enlargement of the existing IPv6 test bed of ERNET to make it countrywide and accessible to all interested parties.
(vi) Upgradation of NIXI as a national testbed for IPv6 & interconnection among its various nodes to provide access to all ISPs.
(vii) Encouragement to TEC, CDOT, CDAC to set up the IPv6 test beds through Govt.’s funding.
The detailed draft recommendations are available on TRAI’s website at: www.trai.gov.in. Various stakeholders are requested to provide their comments on these recommendations on or before December 30, 2005 on e-mail trai09@bol.net.in or Fax No. 011-26191998.
