I-Café Pilipinas Joins IATWG On IPv6 Deployment

Dir. Philip Varilla of CICT presiding the consultation meeting on draft IRR of EO 893

I-Café Pilipinas as the national advocacy body representing the internet café industry in the country was invited by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) to participate in the consultation meetings that will discuss the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Executive Order No. 893 (EO 893) promoting the deployment and use of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). Invited in the meetings were the stakeholders in the implementation of IPv6 in the various industries in the country.

As of this writing, three (3) meetings were already held and I-Café Pilipinas represented by Ed Zafra and Arthur Gimena attended the stakeholders' meetings held last August 20, 2010 and September 2, 2010 at CICT-NCC Building, C. P. Garcia Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.

The previous administration in its last few days issued EO 893 dated June 18, 2010 promoting the deployment and use of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). CICT as the policy-making agency of the government in the field of information and communications technology was assigned as the secretariat of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) that will oversee the implementation of the executive order. The drafting of the IRR for the approval of the CICT Chairman is the first step towards the implementation of its various provisions aimed at having full commercial operation of IPv6 within the next two (2) years.

In order to ensure the deployment and use of IPv6 within the next two (2) years, EO 893 creates the IATF which will be composed of the Chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) as its Head and Senior Level Officials from Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of National Defense (DND), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and private sector representatives as members.

To assist the IATF in its various functions, the EO also provides for the creation of an Inter-Agency Technical Working Group (IATWG) to be composed the various private entities with stakes in the deployment and use of IPv6. I-Café Pilipinas is currently listed in the draft IRR as one of the proposed members of IATWG. When done, I-Café Pilipinas will aim for the smooth transition of i-café operation as the current IPv4 gets replaced by IPv6.