EPFL is ready for a historical Internet migration

Internet users probably won’t even notice. But on June 6, 2012, a new Internet Protocol, IPv6, will be released, easing the worldwide shortage of IP addresses, identification numbers that are assigned to every device connected to the Internet. Along with Internet giants such as Google, Facebook, and Yahoo!, EPFL is participating in this migration, as are thousands of other public and private institutions and companies around the world. “This will allow EPFL to set the example and look towards the future, in anticipation of this unavoidable evolution,” explains Jean-Claude Berney, EPFL’s director of Information Technology.

The pioneers of the Internet never dreamed that one day all available IP addresses would be exhausted – in fact, the current Internet Protocol, IPv4, theoretically has 4,294,967,296 addresses. But their planning didn’t take into account the increasing and massive usage of the Internet in countries like China and India. Add to this the exponential growth in smartphones and tablets, each of which also needs an IP address, and the problem becomes evident. The IPv6 protocol is the solution that has been globally adopted for dealing with this situation, and it will allow an inexhaustible number of IP addresses (3.4 x 1038).

The web’s rapid growth and the concomitant IP address situation is going to effect everyone involved – operators, content providers, and companies involved in e-commerce – because the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will be irreversible. This means that both protocols will have to continue to operate in parallel until IPv6 is fully adopted. However, even though this massive migration will take several years to accomplish, it is already well underway. In Switzerland, SWITCH has for many years already enabled public institutions like EPFL to take the necessary steps to stay up to date. And several private companies can likewise take advantage of offers from their Internet Service Providers.

EPFL’s IT department will deploy IPv6 on the School’s network, which will enable it to respond to the requests of several laboratories who already need it for their research activities. “The transition from one protocol to another should be transparent to the user,” says Soumaya Lanouar, who as part of EPFL’s network services team is participating in the IPv6 migration. “We’re offering a flexible solution in which both IPv4 and IPv6 can function in parallel on every platform. The two protocols will remain in place independently of each other and we are focused on maintaining the level of quality of existing service.”

EPFL also participated the IPv6 World Launch Day on June 8, 2011, during which a portion of the Internet became an experimental zone for testing the new protocol. The IT team is thus ready to make this necessary and inevitable transition; to train those involved and to deal with any security issues that emerge as the new technology is adopted.