I-Café Pilipinas At The National IPv6 Forum

The National IPv6 Forum with the theme "Encouraging the Migration to IPv6" was held last March 25, 2010 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the Audio-Visual Room of CICT-NCC Building, C. P. Garcia Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City. I-Café Pilipinas was invited to the event as the representative of the internet café industry in the country and we graciously attended the whole-day affair. IPv6 or Internet Protocol version 6 is the 128-bit address developed to replace the soon to be exhausted 32-bit IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4). A more thorough explanation about IPv4 and IPv6 can be found at Expanding The Internet Thru IPv6 article on Owning A Café.

Commissioner Francisco S. Perez II of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) welcomed the participants and attendees to the forum while CICT Chairman Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III delivered the keynote address. A message from Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), one of the world's five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), was conveyed by Sanjaya, APNIC's Services Area Manager.

The first part of the forum tackled the Philippine government's experience in deploying IPv6 which was presented by Director Dennis Villorente of Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI). The Internet Society of the Philippines (ISOC-PH) thru Mr. Randall Lozano shared the private sector experience on IPv6 deployment while Ms. Miwa Fujii, Senior Program Specialist of APNIC reported on the status of IPv4 whose unallocated pool of internet addresses are projected to last until 2011 only. She also reported on the status of deployment of IPv6 in different parts of the world including its role in securing the future growth of the internet.

The local telecommunication companies, PLDT and Globe reported on its readiness to migrate to IPv6 while other sectors like the military, manufacturers and vendors of IPv6 equipment added their current capabilities to support the migration to the new protocol. The National IPv6 Forum ended with the conclusion that IPv6 is easy to deploy but the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will be difficult. The presentors and participants in the forum is one in saying that it may take the next ten (10) years for the world to fully convert to IPv6.