In an exclusive interview, Srinivas Vegesna, Founder&CEO, Criterion Networks talks about the IPv6 scenario in India, skillset requirements and the company’s efforts in this area.
What is the state of adoption of IPv6 in India? Has there really been any deployment of applications or systems by enterprises or government organisations that are specifically running on IPv6 networks?
While infrastructure and services migration are the enabler, true adoption of IPv6 is reflected in Internet user migration from IPv4 to IPv6. While India stands relatively fine in acquisition of IPv6 address space and IPv6 prefixes in the global routing table, IPv6 user adoption in India hasn’t yet shown promising uptrend.
While most service providers have upgraded their infrastructure to support IPv4 and IPv6 side-by-side and businesses can get native IPv6 leased line connectivity, IPv6 connectivity is not usually available to the homes today for broadband Internet services.
In India, IPv6 internet users make up only 0.08% of all the Internet users in India when compared to the 4% adoption rate globally. In US, IPv6 Internet users stands at 8%, and it goes as high as 20% in Belgium.
What are the challenges that are acting as barrier to IPv6 adoption?
Major barriers to adoption of IPv6 include the perception of IPv6 as a checklist item than keeping IPv6 services available on production level, incomplete awareness of the benefits of IPv6 adoption and unavailability of IPv6 trained and certified engineers.
In India, the number of IPv6 Forum certified engineers in India is 215 when compared to 274 in the US and 454 in Singapore as of the beginning of 2014. India should view high IPv6 adoption as a competitive advantage for technology leadership, IT innovation and next-generation Internet services.
What are the specific steps that the Government is taking to increase awareness and adoption of IPv6 within the country?
The Network & Technologies (NT) cell of DoT, GoI has released the “National IPv6 Deployment Roadmap Version II” in March 2013. The roadmap lists the following main objectives:
i. Basic objective of the roadmap is to take the next step forward and lay down important milestones to facilitate substantial transition to IPv6 in the country in a phased and time bound manner.
ii. IPv6 based innovative applications in areas like rural emergency healthcare, tele-education, smart metering, smart grid, smart building, smart city, etc, have tremendous potential to boost the socio-economic development of the country.
How are network equipment providers or the Government working towards resolving these challenges?
Most network equipment providers are working towards bringing their IPv6 functionality on par to IPv4. The Government of India has a pro-active roadmap for IPv6 roadmap and monitoring progress. Better recognition programs and incentives for completing IPv6 adoption and making it available at production grade would foster the quality of IPv6 adoption.
What is skill set scenario in the country from an IPv6 perspective? How will Criterion’s training program help enhance IPv6 skills?
India would need larger IPv6 talent pool to support not only the migration to IPv6 but greenfield networks such as 4G/LTE and the IoT networks that would be based on IPv6. As the next generation protocol for the Internet, IPv6 would be a skillset that would be indispensable for all networking professionals.
In March 2013, The Government of India has unveiled the ‘National IPv6 Deployment Roadmap Ver. II’ which has put top priority on skilled IPv6 trained hum resources within an organization and highlighted it as one of the first steps for a successful deployment.
In order to have a seamless IPv6 transition with minimum disruption due to human error or lack of knowledge, the global IPv6 Forum, worldwide consortium with a mission to advocate the adoption of IPv6 technology, defined IPv6 training and certification programs setting global standards incorporating industry best practices.
In January 2014, Criterion Networking Academy became the first India based organization to receive IPv6 Forum accreditation for silver and gold certified certification programs from IPv6 Forum. By successfully completing IPv6 Forum certified programs offered by Criterion Networking Academy, IT professionals will be able to demonstrate that they have attained IPv6 knowledge and skills and receive IPv6 Forum Certified Network Engineer certifications at Silver and Gold Engineer levels and include them as part of their professional credentials.
For the seasoned IPv6 professionals with instructor experience, Criterion Networking Academy also offers the IPv6 Forum Certified Train-the-Trainer program that provides opportunity to receive the IPv6 Forum Certified Gold Trainer certification.
