China's IPv6 Deployment Speeds up Significantly, Comprehensive Coverage or Entry Countdown

IPv6 is an abbreviation of "Internet Protocol Version 6", which means the sixth generation Internet Protocol. With the rapid development of the Internet, the number of terminals accessing the network continues to increase rapidly, and the IP address of the previous generation Internet Protocol IPv4 has been exhausted, which has become a bottleneck for the development of the Internet.

In contrast, IPv6 not only has sufficient addresses, but also is more convenient to manage. At the same time, it is not easy to be intercepted and tampered with. It is more secure and can adapt to the network needs of the Internet of Everything. Therefore, upgrading to IPv6 is imperative.

In April 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on "Promoting the Sixth Edition of the Internet Protocol (IPv6) Scale Deployment Action Plan", showing that China is determined to bend over the road in a new round of technical competence.

Wen Ku, Director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that the domestic IPv6 scale deployment has clearly planned three main phases:

First, by 2018, the market-driven benign development environment has basically taken shape, and the number of IPv6 active users has reached 200 million.

Second, by 2020, the market-driven benign development environment is improving day by day. The number of IPv6 active users exceeds 500 million, and the new network address no longer uses private IPv4 addresses.

Third, by 2025, China's IPv6 network scale, user scale, and traffic scale will rank first in the world. The network, applications, and terminals fully support IPv6, and complete the smooth evolution to the next generation Internet.

But a comprehensive upgrade of IPv6 poses no small challenge to the technology. According to reports, the biggest problem facing IPv6 deployment is not only the many links involved, but also the problem of "networks, applications, applications and other networks" in actual operations. The current transformation idea is to use the LTE network with small difficulty and obvious effect as a breakthrough. Through the transformation of the self-operated business system of the basic telecommunications enterprise, the IPv6 users will be promoted and the “flow breakthrough” will be realized.

At present, the three major telecom operators, various government websites nationwide, state-owned enterprises, traditional media, Top50 commercial websites and applications, and cloud and CDN service providers have all responded positively.

As of the end of July, the three major operators in China have completed the IPv6 transformation of five Internet backbone direct links in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhengzhou and Chengdu, and are accelerating the promotion of IPv6. Since the beginning of this year, the proportion of domestic IPv6 users has increased from 0.3% to 5%. 

Cloud vendors are also in an orderly promotion. In June, Alibaba Cloud announced that it will jointly provide IPv6 services to the three major operators. Tencent Cloud and Jinshan Cloud have also launched IPv6 deployment plans.

As an important part of IPv6 scale deployment, IPv6 transformation of application infrastructure is also a top priority. In terms of the IPv6 transformation of the content distribution network, the domestic CDN leader Wangsu Technology has also made great progress.

Wangsu Technology revealed that its full range of CDN products currently support IPv6, providing a one-stop solution for full-link IPv6, which can help customers quickly cover IPv6 users and realize smooth transition of applications, services and data in IPv4 and IPv6 environments. The solution covers all IPv6 requirements and enables flexible resource expansion. In addition, the network sink can ensure the best quality of IPv6 full-link access by modifying the internal protocol-wide dual-stack stack.

However, promoting the deployment of IPv6 scale is a huge and arduous system project. Enterprises in all links of the industry chain must perform their respective duties and responsibilities, and strengthen cooperation and cooperation. As the main force, the layout of the three major operators and Internet companies has become a key link in promoting the deployment of IPv6 scale in China.

From another perspective, the full deployment of IPv6 has also brought huge market space to the industry. With the full support of the policy, with the gradual development of upgrading, hardware equipment vendors, cloud and CDN service providers, and network security service providers in the data communication field will all benefit.

Li Dong, vice president of NetScience Technology, said that IPv6 is becoming a new generation of Internet core protocol, and it is now entering a stage of accelerated popularization, which will effectively stimulate the demand of all links in the industry chain, and will also bring a broader market space for the CDN industry.

According to reports, at present, relevant domestic scientific research institutions, universities and enterprises actively participate in the research of IPv6 technology and the formulation of international standards; the mainstream products of network equipment manufacturers have already supported the IPv6 protocol and have international competitiveness, and the market-driven benign development environment has also basically taken shape.

With the acceleration of the IPv6 deployment process, China's full arrival from IPv6 may enter a countdown.