IPv6 deployment


Deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6, the next generation of the Internet Protocol, has been in progress since the mid-2000s.
IPv6 was designed as a replacement for IPv4 which has been in use since 1982, and is in the final stages of exhausting its unallocated address space, but still carries most Internet traffic. Google's statistics show IPv6 availability of its users at around 30% - 33% depending on the day of the week, as of July 2020. Adoption is uneven across countries and Internet service providers.
In November 2016, 1,491 of the 1,519 top-level domains in the Internet supported IPv6 to access their domain name servers, and 1,485 zones contained IPv6 glue records, and approximately 9.0 million domains had IPv6 address records in their zones. Of all networks in the global BGP routing table, 29.2% had IPv6 protocol support.
By 2011, all major operating systems in use on personal computers and server systems had production-quality IPv6 implementations. Cellular telephone systems present a large deployment field for Internet Protocol devices as mobile telephone service continues to make the transition from 3G to 4G technologies, in which voice is provisioned as a voice over IP service. This mandates the use of IPv6 for such networks. In 2009, the US cellular operator Verizon released technical specifications for devices to operate on its 4G networks. The specification mandates IPv6 operation according to the 3GPP Release 8 Specifications , and deprecates IPv4 as an optional capability.

Deployment evaluation tools

Google publishes statistics on IPv6 adoption among Google users. A graph of IPv6 adoption since 2008 and a map of IPv6 deployment by country are available.
Akamai publishes by-country and by-network statistics on IPv6 adoption for traffic it sees on its global Content Distribution Network. This set of data also shows graphs for each country and network over time.
A global view into the history of the growing IPv6 routing tables can be obtained with the SixXS Ghost Route Hunter. This tool provided a list of all allocated IPv6 prefixes until 2014 and marks with colors the ones that were actually being announced into the Internet BGP tables. When a prefix was announced, it means that the ISP at least can receive IPv6 packets for their prefix.
The integration of IPv6 on existing network infrastructure may be monitored from other sources, for example:
A few organizations are involved with international IPv6 test and evaluation, ranging from the United States Department of Defense to the University of New Hampshire.

Operating system support

By 2011, all major operating systems in use on personal computers and server systems had production-quality IPv6 implementations. Microsoft Windows has supported IPv6 since Windows 2000, and in production-ready state beginning with Windows XP. Windows Vista and later have improved IPv6 support. macOS since Panther, Linux 2.6, FreeBSD, and Solaris also have mature production implementations. Some implementations of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file transfer protocol make use of IPv6 to avoid NAT issues common for IPv4 private networks.

Government encouragement

In the early 2000s, governments increasingly required support for IPv6 in new equipment. The US government, for example, specified in 2005 that the network backbones of all federal agencies had to be upgraded to IPv6 by June 30, 2008; this was completed before the deadline. In addition, the US government in 2010 required federal agencies to provide native dual-stacked IPv4/IPv6 access to external/public services by 2012, and internal clients were to utilize IPv6 by 2014. Progress on the US government's external facing IPv6 services is tracked by NIST. The government of the People's Republic of China implemented a five-year plan for deployment of IPv6 called the China Next Generation Internet.

Coexistence with IPv4

On 7 March 2013, the Internet Engineering Task Force created a working group for IPv4 sunset in preparation for protocol changes that could be used to support sunset / shutdown of remanent IPv4 networks. However, in May 2018 this working group was closed as no immediate work could be identified due to the slow transition to IPv6.
The Internet Engineering Task Force expects IPv6 to coexist with IPv4 as it is considered impractical to transition to IPv6 in the short term. The coexistence is expected to be based on dual-stack, tunneling or translation mechanisms. Dual-stack implementations required two parallel logical networks, increasing cost and complexity of the network. IPv4 networks are expected to slowly transition into segmented subnetworks using IPv4 Residual Deployment.
The slow transition to IPv6 has caused significant resentment in the Internet community.
As a result, many larger enterprises, such as Microsoft, are now taking steps to turn IPv4 off, running IPv6-only within the company. In a recent blog, the company describes their heavily translated IPv4 network as "potentially fragile", "operationally challenging", and with regard to dual stack operations "complex".

Deployment by country and region

Algeria

AnwarNet ; AfriNIC has allocated range of IPv6 address space to AnwarNet. AnwarNet started IPV6 services in 2011.

Australia

As of January 2019, Brazil has 27% IPv6 adoption. IPv6 adoption in the country was boosted in 2015 when the Brazilian telecommunications agency, Anatel, announced that all Internet operators and service providers would be required to provide IPv6 addresses to consumers. This was one of a number of initiatives to increase the speed of deployment.

Bulgaria

Has constructed a research center to study the possibilities of adopting IPv6 in the country. The center will operate alongside another facility, which is equipped with an IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer.
Since 2015, the ISP Blizoo enabled IPv6 for many home customers.
At the end of 2016, the ISP ComNet Bulgaria Holding Ltd. has provided complete IPv6 support for all customers and households within company network in Bulgaria.

Canada

IPv6 deployment is slow but ongoing, with major Canadian ISPs lacking in support for its residential customers, and the majority of their business customers. According to Google's statistics, Canada reached an IPv6 adoption rate of 27% in July 2020.
The China Next Generation Internet project is a five-year plan initiated by the Chinese government with the purpose of gaining a significant position in the development of the Internet through the early adoption of IPv6. China showcased CNGI's IPv6 infrastructure during the 2008 Summer Olympics, being the first time a major world event has had a presence on the IPv6 Internet. At the time of the event, it was believed that the Olympics provided the largest showcase of IPv6 technology since the inception of IPv6. The deployment of IPv6 was widespread in all related applications, from data networking and camera transmissions for sporting events, to civil applications, such as security cameras and taxis. The events were streamed live over the Internet and networked cars were able to monitor traffic conditions readily, all network operations of the Games being conducted using IPv6.
Also, the CERNET set up native IPv6, and since then many academic institutions in China joined CERNET2 for IPv6 connectivity. CERNET-2 is probably the widest deployment of IPv6 in China. It is managed and operated jointly by 25 universities. Students in Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, for example, get native IPv6.
In November 2017, the Communist party decreed a plan to get all its Internet users on IPv6 by 2025 with a quarter of them by the end of 2018.

Czech Republic

As of September 2019, the country has deployment ratio around 11%, both by Google and APNIC stats.
As of July 2020, the country has only 4% IPv6 traffic, according to Google stats.
A web page follows national IPv6 deployment.
The ISP Fullrate has begun offering IPv6 to its customers, on the condition that their router is compatible. If the router is of a different version, the customer has to request a new router.

Estonia

Estonian Telekom is providing native IPv6 access on residential and business broadband connections since September 2014. According to Google's statistics, Estonia has reached an IPv6 adoption rate of 28% by July 2020.

Finland

, the NIC for the.fi top level domain, has added IPv6 address to DNS servers, and allows entering IPv6 address when registering domains. The registration service domain.fi for new domains is also available over IPv6.
A small Finnish ISP :fi:Nebula |Nebula has offered IPv6 access since 2007.
FICORA held national IPv6 day on June 9, 2015. At that time Elisa and DNA Oyj started providing IPv6 on mobile subscriptions, and Telia Company and DNA Oyj started providing IPv6 on fixed-line connections.
According to Google's statistics, Finland has reached an IPv6 adoption rate of 31% by July 2020.

France

As of July 2020, France has 41% IPv6 traffic according to Google, and 40% according to APNIC.

Germany

According to Google's statistics, Germany has reached an IPv6 adoption rate of 48% by July 2020.
O2 is the only one mobile carrier in Germany without IPv6 for data connections.

Hong Kong

Hungary

In Hungary :hu:Externet|Externet was the first ISP starting deploying IPv6 on its network in 2008 August. The service was commercially available since 2009 May.
Magyar Telekom was running tests on its production environments since the beginning of 2009. Free customer trials started on November 2, 2009, for those on ADSL or Fiber Optic. Customers are given a /128 via DHCP-ND unless they register their DUID in which case they receive a /56 using a static configuration results in a single /64.
According to information on telecompaper.com, UPC Hungary will start deploying IPv6 in mid-2013, finishing it in 2013. The plan has not materialized until the end of 2015.
In 2015, December RCS&RDS has enabled native dual stack IPv6 for its FTTB/H customers. In November the same year UPC Hungary introduced DS Lite which can be enabled on a customer-to-customer basis if the customer asks for it.
Magyar Telekom deployed dual stack IPv6 for all of its wired customers in October 2016.
According to the statistics of APNIC, IPv6 use in Hungary as of 2018 December has reached around 20%.
According to Google's IPv6 statistics the adoption rate in Hungary as of July 2020 is 26%.

India

According to Google's statistics, India has reached an IPv6 adoption rate of around 45% in July 2020.
APNIC places India at more than 70% preferring IPv6.
in Ireland as seen by Google.

Japan

According to Google's statistics, Japan had an IPv6 adoption rate of 35% by July 2020.

Lebanon

The LITNET academic & research network has supported IPv6 since 2001. Most commercial ISPs have not publicly deployed IPv6 yet.

Luxembourg

According to Google's statistics, Luxembourg reached an IPv6 adoption rate of 36% by July 2020.

Netherlands

, surveys conducted by the New Zealand IPv6 Task Force indicated that awareness of IPv6 had reached a near-universal level among New Zealand's large public- and private-sector organisations, with adoption mostly occurring as part of normal network refresh cycles. Most of New Zealand's ISP and carrier community have a test environment for IPv6 and many have started bringing IPv6 products and services on-stream. An increasing number of New Zealand government websites are available over IPv6, including those of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry for Primary Industries and the Department of Internal Affairs.
The government is in process of upgrading its facilities. Globe Telecom has already set in motion the transition of its core IP network to IPv6, noting that it is now fully prepared even as the Internet runs out of IPv4 addresses. Globe claims it is the first local telecommunication company to test IPv6 with Department of Science and Technology. In some cases, like test networks or users, IPv6 or both maybe present.

Poland

The Sudanese IPv6 task Force SDv6TF was formed in 2010 to fellow the implementation of IPv6 migration plan.
By November 2012, all telecom operators are becoming IPv6 enabled, this was tested for the first time at the AFRINIC-17 meeting held in Khartoum.
SudREN is the first ISP to provide native IPv6 connectivity of the member institution. By August 2014, SudREN.edu.sd is fully IPv6 Enabled.
Two certification received from IPv6 Forum, for WWW and ISP Enabled Logos.

Sweden

Operators offering native IPv6 access for business clients and collocation customers include Tele2 and Phonera.

Switzerland

Started deploying IPv6 in 2010. In 2011, obtained a new IPv6 block from AFRINIC. In 2013–2015, Gnet, and CIMSP received IPv6 prefixes from AFRINIC. Deployment of an IPv6 tunnel between ATI and HE. In 2016, CCK obtains its own IPv6 block from AFRINIC. In 2016, ISET Charguia deployed its IPv6 network as end user.

Ukraine

Some IPv6 implementation has taken place.

United Kingdom

According to Google's statistics, United Kingdom has reached an IPv6 adoption rate of 30% as of July 2020.

United States

In the United States the majority of smartphones use IPv6, but only a small percent of computers and tablets use IPv6. As of July 2020, 42% of Google users in the US use IPv6.
DateEntityDescription
2000Stealth CommunicationsStealth Communications has been providing production IPv6 since 2000 when it received its pTLA status on 6bone. The company later received its sTLA allocation from ARIN in 2001, making it the 12th organization at that time to receive production IPv6 addressing in North America.
2005Sonic.netSonic.net offers partial support for IPv6. They assign a /60 to any customer requesting address space and deliver the IPv6 packets over a 6in4 tunnel.
2008Department of DefenseAs with IPv4, the Department of Defense holds a larger IPv6 allocation than any other entity, a /13 block, enough to create almost 2.3 quadrillion local area networks, 64 times as many as the next largest entity.
2008Hurricane ElectricHurricane Electric, an early IPv6 adopter and maintains a native IPv6 backbone and was one of the largest IPv6 connectivity and hosting providers in the United States. It was the first IPv6 backbone operator in the world to reach 200 IPv6 BGP adjacencies. Through its IPv6 tunnel broker service, Hurricane also provides free IPv6 connectivity to users in the United States and in several other countries.
2011ComcastComcast started IPv6 pilot market deployment in 2011.
2011Time Warner CableTime Warner Cable was conducting IPv6 trials for their customers from September 2011.
2011AT&TAT&T started testing their networks with IPv6 in 2006. and started rolling out IPv6 to customers with compatible CPEs in Q4 2011.
2012US Department of EducationUS Department of Education became the first cabinet-level agency to deploy IPv6 on its DNS services across its 17.gov domains on August 5, 2012.
2012Google FiberGoogle Fiber launched with IPv6 support in 2012.
2012Charter CommunicationsCharter Communications offers IPv6 access to all of its customers via a freely accessible IPv6 rapid deployment server since at least March 2012.
2012CenturyLinkCenturyLink offered IPv6 access to all of its customers since at least 2012.
2013T-MobileT-Mobile has made IPv6 its default phone configuration for all new Android 4.3+ devices. using 464XLAT. As of December 2013, phones configured by default for IPv6 / 464XLAT include the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Light, MetroPCS Samsung Mega, and the Google Nexus 5.
2013Verizon WirelessAs of June 2013, over 31% of all users on Verizon Wireless had IPv6.
2016Verizon WirelessAs of June 2016, over 72% of all users on Verizon Wireless had IPv6.
2017Hurricane ElectricHurricane Electric becomes the first Internet backbone in the world to reach 4000 IPv6 BGP adjacencies.

Further countries

As of July 2020

World IPv6 Day

promoted June 8, 2011, as "World IPv6 Day". The event was described as a "test drive" for full IPv6 rollouts.

World IPv6 Launch

The Internet Society declared June 6, 2012, to be the date for "World IPv6 Launch", with participating major websites enabling IPv6 permanently, participating ISPs offering IPv6 connectivity, and participating router manufacturers offering devices enabled for IPv6 by default.