MARINA DEL REY, CA - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced in a Tuesday press release that it took another step along the path of deployment for the next-generation IPv6 Internet addressing system.
IPv6 addresses were added for six of the world’s 13 root server networks (A, F, H, J, K, M) to the appropriate files and databases. This move allows for the possibility of fuller IPv6 usage of the Domain Name System (DNS). Previously, those using IPv6 had needed to retain the older IPv4 addressing system in order to be able to use domain names.
"The ISP community welcomes this development as part of the continuing evolution of the public Internet,” Chair of ICANN’s Internet Service and Connectivity Provider Constituency Tony Holmes said.
“IPv6 will be an essential part our future and support in the root servers is essential to the growth, stability, and reliability of the public Internet,” he added.
Name server software relies on the root servers as a key part in translating domains like “icann.org” into the routing identifiers used by computers to connect to one another.
In 2007, the ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee concluded that ICANN should move forward with the enhancement of the DNS root service by adding IPv6 addresses for the root servers.
As more and more devices connect to the Internet they require unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. The remaining free pool of unassigned IPv4 addresses is being depleted by the growth of the Internet. IPv6 is the addressing protocol that increases the unique IP addresses from the 4 billion available in IPv4, to more than 340 trillion trillion trillion.
“Today’s addition of IPv6 addresses for the root servers enhances the end-to-end connectivity for IPv6 networks, and furthers the growth of the global interoperable Internet," ICANN’s Vice President of Research and IANA Strategy David Conrad noted.
“This is a major step forward for IPv6-only connectivity and the global migration to IPv6,” he concluded.
ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers like domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .uk) and the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols that help computers reach each other over the Internet.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the body responsible for coordinating some of the key elements that keep the Internet running smoothly.
