According to George Michaelson, senior research and development scientist at the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, IPv6 adoption is growing steadily but has a long way to go, reports Enterprise Networking Planet. Speaking at an IETF 84 panel this week, Michaelson revealed some numbers based on statistical research he has been doing.
The largest base of IPv6 users is in the United States, with an estimated 3.3 million users on the new protocol. This puts national penetration at 1.35 percent of the country"s population. Romania leads the world for IPv6 adoption rate, with 8.73 percent. However, this translates to about 756,000 users. Japan is another leader, with almost 2 million users - 1.97 percent user penetration.
China, by contrast, has a poor penetration rate of approximately 0.42 percent, despite the strong need for IPv6 usage due to its enormous population. That small percentage translates into a relatively large 2.12 million users.
"I think you"re used to us standing up and saying "woe is me, woe is me, v6 isn"t happening,"" Michaelson said. "But it is actually happening, these are not trivial numbers of people that are now using IPv6 on a routine basis."
Internet Protocol version 6 is intended to succeed IPv4, which does not have enough unique addresses for all the devices in the world. The official launch of IPv6 took place on June 6, 2012.
Source: Enterprise Networking Planet