The era of IPv6 is almost upon us. And in an interview with Gus over at Lifehacker, Tesla driver and Internode top dog Simon Hackett explains how it will be mobile phone use that will drive the move to IPv6 more than anything else:
“It turns out that the real catalyst for these issues is mobile devices. This iPhone I’m holding is IPv6 capable now, and if I’m at home on a IPv6 Internode connection, it all works. So mobiles change the equation. Frankly, for the average happy kid walking down the street who wants to access the interwebs with their mobile phone, if Twitter and Facebook and Google are IPv6-enabled, 98% of what they think the problem is has gone away. Guess what? They are, now. So if your phone only does IPv6, the Internet you see already gives you access to all the bits that keep you happy and that your average teenager wants.
“So if a big US provider makes that shift with their phones, it creates an enormous pool of incentive for others to convert their sites to IPv6 or they won’t get the same crowd visiting their sites. It will be the first few big US mobile providers who can’t get a big IPv4 block for the next 10 million users but who can get an IPv6 block that will drive the change.”
If there’s one person in the country you should trust to deliver the low down on IPv6, it’s Hackett. Internode began trialling IPv6 about 18 months ago, and has discovered that ultimately, IPv4 will still be around for another decade.
Click the link and read the entire interview over on Lifehacker.