[arin-discuss] ipv6 technology supplier phone bank?

[michael.dillon at bt.com]

> how should we build the target list, since many of our 
> vendors are several layers deep behind resellers, and since 
> pounding on the resellers may be like pushing on ropes?

I would say that we should not restrict the target list to
only network ops related companies with which we have relationships
because a lot of that is already covered.

On the other hand, we could be asking questions like "Please give me
the date when your products will support IPv6?" or "When will your 
promotional materials and catalogs clearly state which products
only support legacy IPv4 and which fully support IPv6?". Even a
reseller can answer that kind of question.

And even when we contact a network device manufacturer or a network
ops software development company, we won't necessarily be able to
get information out of technical people. So to do a sprint properly,
you need some kind of fallback questions that give you enough info
to decide whether to list the company on a "hall of shame" web page,
or not.

In addition, I don't suggest that we limit it only to the stuff that
we as network operators need. We could be calling game manufacturers
like EA to ask which games support IPv6, and when will the box labeling
clearly note that a game supports "only legacy IPv4" or "fully supports
IPv6"? Any consumer software is a valid target, as are consumer devices
such as Sony Playstation or those little network boxes that show tweets
or RSS feeds. Internet radios. All of that stuff has to be capable of
functioning in a home whose Internet access is pure IPv6.

Remember, that when IPv4 gets scarce, a lot of netops will push low
margin
customers onto IPv6 in order to free up their IPv4 addresses to continue
growing their high margin business. This means that consumer Internet
access
is one of the first areas where people will be forced to use pure IPv6
on the access link, even if they have IPv4 in the home and the ISP's
network
is fully dual-stacked.

The list should be too big to deal with in one sprint but that's OK
because
I think the biggest impact comes of doing this repeatedly. In fact, if
some
NANOG types want to get involved, we could build a VoIP infrastructure
kit
to support the sprint, and after the ARIN sprint is over, people could
look
for other gatherings (Open Source, Linux, etc.) where a sprint could be
held. And then 6 months later, the second ARIN IPv6 readiness review
sprint.

--Michael Dillon