[ppml] IPv6 Workshops? (was Policy Proposal: 2007-12 IPv4Cou ntdown Policy Proposal)

[Stephen Sprunk]

Thus spake <brian.knight at us.mizuho-sc.com>
> Is there anyone at all reaching out to the enterprise network operator
> community, to tell them about IPv6 and to give them some hands-on
> experience with it?  Perhaps that would help speed adoption of v6.

I've submitted an official suggestion via the ACSP that ARIN start community 
outreach efforts.  I didn't mention hands-on events, but that's a good 
thought to add if ARIN acts on the suggestion (and they might not, or the 
members might reject it if consulted, due to the high cost of reaching and 
influencing people who aren't already involved in the discussion).

I also question how effective outreach is going to be when we, the people 
who obviously care the most about this stuff, can't even manage to get IPv6 
running in our own networks/homes* and the consensus seems to be "who cares; 
I'll upgrade a few years after IPv4 runs out".  If even Google, with all the 
talent and cash they have, can't be bothered to turn on IPv6, what does that 
say about the state of things?

(* My monopoly ISP has said they have no plans to _ever_ offer IPv6, and 
even aftermarket fw for my Linksys router blocks IPinIP if I try 6to4 to 
their upstream's relay.)

> I know of at least one IT education firm that has a v6 class, but that's
> not what I had in mind.  I'm thinking of something more along the
> lines of the IPv6 workshop being held at the ARIN meeting in April.  I
> have in mind something where enterprise operators get an
> opportunity to learn the nuts and bolts of IPv6 and to play with a
> functioning IPv6 network.   Maybe vendors or major service providers
> could sponsor such a workshop to be held at an industry conference,
> where there are many more enterprise operators in attendance.

If you want to reach enterprise operators, you're going to have to go to 
events like Networkers, Networld+Interop, etc. because few of them are going 
to be at "insiders" events like ARIN and NANOG meetings.  However, it's not 
only the operators you need to convince; it's the people who control their 
budgets.  And really, how are we going to convince the CIO of some 
international conglomerate that they need to convert to IPv6 when 90% of 
their traffic stays inside the firewall, they have a dozen legacy /16s of 
their own with plenty of room for growth, they're NATted to the outside 
world, and all their external communication is web and email traffic?  About 
the only thing they need to upgrade to v6 is their VPN concentrator and they 
can keep using IPv4 for decades.

These people account for a large fraction of the address space usage, but 
they're not asking for more on a regular basis (or ever!).  Growth is coming 
from eyeballs and, to a lesser extent, hosters.  We can't easily put hosters 
behind NATs, but we _can_ put the eyeballs behind NATs and tell them if they 
don't like it they can convert to IPv6.  That's assuming the content folks 
ever bother dual-homing -- we need Google, YouTube, Yahoo, MySpace, ITMS, 
CNN, etc. to get with the program before that'll fly.

S

Stephen Sprunk      "Those people who think they know everything
CCIE #3723         are a great annoyance to those of us who do."
K5SSS                                             --Isaac Asimov