We’re going to IPv6 the Irish Internet!

Ok not all of it, but the bit that we currently run. But we want to get as many
websites on our IPv6 platform before the end of 2008. This announcement/invitation is to all of our customers and potential customers.
Our plan:
1) To get 90% of our customer base onto IPv6 before the end of 2008.
2) We want to increase awareness of IPv6 in Ireland by advocating it and making every
single website we host for our customers available on the IPv6 Internet.
3) We want to take the lead in Ireland for IPv6 usage and set new standards for the
entire country and possibly the world.
So how are we going to do it? Good question and it’s a simple one. We’re going to start with the easier customers and then work our way upto the harder customers. So who, out of our customer base, is going to be easy to migrate?
The short answer, anyone that has their own dedicated or colocated server. Or to be more exact anyone running Apache 2.x on Linux. However we’re not going to shy away from IIS 6 (despite it’s rubbish support of IPv6). So there you have it, anyone with their own machine that runs linux or windows and has IIS 6+ or Apache 2.x or better can avail of this invitation.
Why?
1) Ok this is the difficult part. There are a lot of reasons, however it’s going to come down to money eventually. All of our customers and indeed the global Internet community are used to getting IP addresses for free. What if, in 2010 you had to pay 100 euro a month for 1 IPv4 IP address?
Why the heck would I pay for 1 IP address?? Well your broadband line at home has 1 IP address, your SSL enabled website has 1 IP address and your Office has a /29 range from your ISP. That’s 10 IP addresses total. Wow 1000 Euro per month. Now throw in your dedicated server into that bill. We give you 20 IP addresses for it and we have to charge 100 euro an IP address. That’s another 2000 Euro. So we’re upto 3000 Euro a month and all You get is a few IP addresses. _This_ could infact be the case in 2010 or 2011 if we don’t hurry up and get dual-stacked and make IPv6 a reality.
2) There are many technical reasons for switching to IPv6 as well. The main ones that we’re considering are very real world reasons. Why would an ISP in todays IPv4 Internet bother with IPv6? Why would they upgrade their kit, get a /32 from RIPE or ARIN or which ever RIR region they are in and go to the bother of learning how to deploy this seemingly cumbersome IP number scheme when there is no IPv6 enabled content on the Internet that their customer base (their bread and butter) can see/interact with.
People are not seeing the depletion of the IPv4 pool as a problem. It’s been said for the last 3-4 years “In 4 years time we’re going to run out and the Internet will die.” While this isn’t what’ll happen, the problem is that we don’t really know what will happen. Some people are saying there’ll be an “IP aftermarket” similar to the “Domain aftermarket” where you can buy and sell IP resources for large sums of Money. This could potentially create a market where my exotic pricing scheme (outlined above) could exist.
To summarise, Blacknight as Ireland’s fastest growing HSP (Hosting Service Provider) are going to lead the Irish Internet into the future by enabling 30k Irish websites to be reached over IPv6 by the end of 2008. Whether this is achievable or not is largely going to be down to our customers. If you have any interest in what we’ve said above please contact us via e-mail ipv6-wg@blacknight.ie . We want to enable all our customers to use IPv6, it won’t be easy for everyone. Shoving your head into the sand waiting for this to all blow over isn’t going to work either. One way or another, IPv6 is going to come into play. Live life on the edge, with us, deploy it with us ASAP.