TSSG presents at Global IPv6 Summit

Every time you use the Internet you use an Internet Protocol (IP)-a set of rules for communication between computers. Currently standing at Internet Protocol version 4 or IPv4 as it is more commonly known, this set of rules is undergoing a total makeover.

IPv4 was designed a long time ago in computer terms (about 1980) and since then; there were many requests for enhanced capabilities. Currently IPv4 serves what could be called the computer market, the driving force behind the growth of the Internet.

Each computer has an address (called an IP address) that allows other computers to communicate with it. IPv4 provides a limited supply of these addresses.

It is anticipated that new types of devices replacing the current generation of mobile phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs), will need to communicate with the current generation of computers and the new Internet protocol will need to support this.

With the advance of digital high-definition television comes the possibility that every television set will become an Internet host, blurring the difference between a computer and a television and adding another functionality requirement to the next Internet protocol. It's also possible that the next generation Internet protocol could be used to control devices. For example, the control of everyday devices such as lighting equipment, heating and cooling equipment, motors, and other types of equipment currently controlled via analog switches and consuming considerable amounts of electrical power. The size of this market is enormous and requires solutions, which are simple, robust, easy to use, and very low cost. The potential pay-off is that networked control of devices will result in substantial energy and cost savings.

With all these devices potentially becoming internet hosts, it follows that they will require IP addresses. The number of unique addresses provided by IPv4 has been highlighted as a potential restriction for expanded internet uptake.

IPv6 is an upgrade to the internet protocol, and the main driver for its deployment is its ability to expand the address space of the internet. It has been the proposed standard since November 1994. (IPv5 is already reserved for another protocol, which never really made it to the public, hence IPv6.) As a natural increment to IPv4, IPv6 is designed to be the evolutionary step forward to provide a platform for the new internet functionality that will be required in the near future.

Due to the size and scale of these new markets, it is also probable that they will each develop their own protocols anyway, perhaps proprietary. If this happens then these new protocols would not interoperate with each other i.e. your phone could not talk to your fridge, or your DVD player/recorder and the opportunity to create an immense, interoperable, world-wide information structure with open protocols would be lost.

This is exactly the kind of scenario that the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) at Waterford Institute of Technology is trying to avoid. Speaking at the recent IPv6 Global Summit in Barcelona, Kevin Doolin, Competence Centre Manager at the TSSG established that "the challenge was to pick a protocol that meets today's requirements and also matches the requirements of emerging markets such as the ones described".

As a core member of the DAIDALOS project (Designing Advanced Interfaces for the Delivery and Administration of Location independent Optimised personal Services), the TSSG plays an important role in the promotion of IPv6.

DAIDALOS, is a European Union funded research project worth 14.5 million Euros, incorporates 46 partners from industry and academia representing 15 European countries, Singapore and China. The project has a vision to enable users to access a wide range of personalised communication services whenever and wherever they need them.

The event was organized in order to provide a complete view of the progress of IPv6 in the ICT sectors.