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The Malta Independent | Thursday 17 March 2011
ICT Feature
IPv6 has been a waiting game between supply and demand for too long, say Alexander Borg and Michel Bugeja in this article about the next generation Internet Protocol. But how will it really evolve?
IPv6 – to upgrade or not to upgrade? The Internet Protocol (IP) is the main communications protocol used to exchange data across the Internet. It is a convention which providers use to locate the exact address to which to convey data. At inception, the Internet had limited applications and was used primarily by the military as a back-up communications channel. Eventually, its potential grew to the phenomenon it is today. The protocol in use since then, IP version 4 (IPv4), is by design limited to 4.3 billion addresses. Currently, there are nearly two billion people from all walks of life, age, and social and economic background worldwide surfing the Internet - indeed, few imagined such a rapid takeup. IPv4 addresses exhausted The Internet Address Numbering Authority (IANA) has recently announced that the current stock of IPv4 addresses is now exhausted. In other words, it has allocated the remaining IP addresses to the various regional Internet registries, who in turn allocate them to the various Internet Service Providers according to market demand. So where is the problem one may ask if there still is a balance of some 2.3 billion IP addresses. The Internet of the future will change dramatically as we shall see, causing the demand for IP addresses to surge dramatically. The solution to this problem is to use an improved version of IPv4 called IPv6. And before anybody begins to wonder, there actually was an IPv5! But it was used for another protocol (ST2) which eventually never took off commercially.
Alexander Borg and Michel Bugeja are respectively Client Relations Manager and Enterprise Architect at MITA.
Internet infrastructures IPv6 has a virtually limitless stock of IPs available to satisfy future demand. So what’s all the fuss about? Most of today’s Internet infrastructures are unable to translate an IPv4 address into IPv6 without making the appropriate investments in network equipment, software and methodologies. If your Internet Service Provider (ISP) still has not upgraded its infrastructure to IPv6 readiness, and the website you are trying to access is already hosted on IPv6 infrastructure, your browser will return a ‘could not
The Malta Independent ICT Feature Roderick Spiteri Roderick Spiteri is Marketing and Communications Executive at MITA and editor of Malta Independent ICT feature
Joswill Micallef
find the URL’ message. It would be similar to sending a letter to a friend, after the destination country has changed the entire address numbering system making it impossible to trace where he or she lives. To be fair, pundits had forecast this would happen over 20 years ago, but the problem was still considered a deferrable one. Moreover, agreement on common approaches to its resolution was still far away in the offing until IPv6 was finally confirmed as the most viable solution. Internet of Things We now talk about IPv6 as the next generation Internet protocol because it allows growth towards an Internet which no longer only connects people using computers, but an Internet which connects ‘things’ people use every day while on the move! Which is precisely why we now need billions more IP addresses. The “Internet of Things”, as the next generation of the Internet is being branded, merits a separate dis-
cussion altogether, and may well be the topic of a forthcoming article on this space. However, the journey to this new exciting world of opportunity cannot happen unless governments and enterprises agree to invest in upgrading Internet infrastructures to IPv6 readiness. The topic was discussed from various angles during the IPv6 World Congress in Paris last February which we had the opportunity to attend. Social networking websites The evolution to IPv6 is likely to happen in three major stages. Transparent to consumers, the first stage is close to completion with most Internet backbone providers adopting network equipment that seamlessly supports both IPv4 and IPv6. The second stage of the IPv6 evolution is characterised by an evolution in service provision. While some ISPs may have enough addresses to meet current and future consumer demands, early adopters may opt to support both IPv4 and IPv6 to ensure
optimal user experience from the short to longer term scenarios. Social networking websites, search engines and large content service providers have already begun to exert their pull and may soon become the killer applications that will precipitate a surge in demand for IPv6 on all ISPs. Not surprisingly, Facebook, Google and Yahoo already feature prominently as top actors of World IPv6 Day planned for 8 June 2011, the first ever IPv6 world-wide test. Consumer devices - most typically smart phones - and private networks will drive the third stage of the IPv6 evolution by pumping up the demand for IP addresses. Though this is starting to happen already, this growth is expected to extend over a number of years. Internet aware devices Forecasts show that by 2014 about 17% of Internet users will be IPv6 enabled. Already now various brands of desktop computers, application software and Internet aware devices pos-
sess a native capability to connect to the next generation Internet. Others will need upgrading or replacing, while technologies supporting legacy systems will become more expensive to maintain. Many experts agree that 2020 should be the year when most IPv4 based systems will be long past their best-before date. While many may claim that the need to upgrade is not so pressing for the immediate future, IANA’s announcement should serve as a wake-up call. Till now it has been a waiting game between supply and demand - one waiting for the other to make the first move. Now that the rumblings of demand can be heard over the horizon, IPv6 is ultimately what stands between the Internet as we know it today, and the Internet of Things as we would like it be tomorrow: a world of opportunity. Ask Mark Zuckerberg about it. Internet connected devices can be tested for IPv6 readiness at http://testipv6.com
Joswill Micallef is Programme Manager eGov Operations at MITA.
In today’s ICT Feature we’re looking at the next generation of Internet Protocol known as IPv6. An Internet Protocol address is a unique numerical address given to every computer on the Internet. Just as a postal address enables the postal system to send mail to your location from anywhere around the world, your computer's IP address provides the Internet routing
protocols the unique information they need to route packets of information to your computer from anywhere across the world-wide-web. What happens when the demand for addresses surpasses a limited supply? We also have an article about one of the components which will take eGovernment to its next level – myBills – which will enable us to check
and settle all our bills online from one single portal. Finally, we will look at Hunch - an online application which supposedly helps you in taking decisions. They have turned to their users and compiled some interesting statistics on the characteristics of average users of common webmail providers such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and AOL.
One-stop shop portal for government bills In this connected age, the vast majority of organisations can present bills and accept payment by online means. The full name for this set of facilities is ‘Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment’ (EBPP), and it provides customers with the ability to view and pay bills over the internet on a 24/7 basis. In Malta, the first Government service that offered online billing and payments was deployed in 2002. Over the past eight years the number of such Government services has increased considerably. All too often, however, electronic payment services were deployed as a number of service specific websites, which meant that customers who wanted to pay several bills electronically were required to access a number of different websites. In order to simplify this process, Government and the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) are currently working on the deployment of a portal through which bills originating from various Government entities can be viewed and paid electronically. The portal is named myBills and it is one of the principal components of Government’s vision to design, develop and operate a state-of-the-art eGovernment platform. This will serve as a single point of contact for all online public services, with a unique user experience. myBills is intended to provide consumers of eGovernment services with a single payment method that meets the highest industry security standards and provides a uniform payment experience across all local eGovernment services. Such goals can be achieved by rolling out a centrally hosted payment page - HPP - and an interface that allows all Government entities to provide EBPP services through the myBills Portal.
Centrally Hosted Payment Page (HPP) Customers making payments through any Government website will be redirected to a central payment page to enter their confidential/sensitive payment data. In order to keep the user experience as uniform as possible the payment page will exhibit the same look and feel of the Government website accessed. However, it will be hosted on a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certified environment, to ensure the highest standard of confidentiality of all the details submitted. EBPP through the myBills Portal The myBills Portal also includes an application programming interface (API) that eases integration into back office billing systems for the posting of journal entries and related attachments. This provides customers with a single online location where all bills from various Government entities
can be viewed and settled. Additionally the portal will allow customers (citizens and businesses) to: • View notifications posted by bill issuers; • Receive payment and billing notifications by email and/or SMS; • Schedule future payments; • View history of all online payments made; • View statement of current position; • Issue various reports; • Store payment details for future use. Soon, various Government entities will be able to provide customers with the facility of having bills posted on the myBills Portal. If you want to be notified when this facility is made available by individual Government entities, go to https://bills.mygov.mt and set the desired notification types. eID authentication is required to access the myBills Portal.
Email Stereotypes: what does your email address say about you? An email address which is not the typical name.surname@server.domain tends to attract some attention. We have to admit that when we see email addresses of people we don’t know, we judge them according to their email address. If we see a number at the end, we tend to tie that to the person’s age or year of birth, unless it’s a 69 – in which case we would probably roll our eyes. And unless we’re 14, we perceive purposely misspelled words in email addresses as juvenile. A recent survey by Hunch provides an idea of what the most used email domains say about their users. Hunch is a web application designed to collect data with the aim of building a “taste graph” of everyone on the Internet using algorithms mixed with user-generated content. It defines itself as a new way to help people make all kinds of decisions and results are based on the collective knowledge of its users. Hunch therefore used its own users to analyse some of the characteristics of those who use Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! and AOL and came up with the following results:
Gmail users Gmail users are most likely to be thin young men aged between 18 and 34 years who are college-educated and not religious. Like other young Hunch users, they tend to be politically liberal, single (and ready to mingle), and childless. Gmail users live in cities and have travelled to five or more countries. They’re career-focused and plugged in (updated and abreast of the times). They mostly read blogs, have an iPhone and laptop, and listen to music via MP3s and computers (but they don’t have a Digital Video Recorder [DVR]). At home, they lounge around in a t-shirt and jeans. Gmail users prefer salty snacks and are introverted and entrepreneurial. They are optimistic or pessimistic, depending on the situation.
Hotmail users Hotmail users are most likely to be young women of average build aged between 18 and 34 (and younger) who have a high school diploma and are not religious. They tend to be politically middle of the road, single, and childless. Hotmail users live in the suburbs, perhaps still with their parents, and have travelled to up to five countries. They mostly read magazines and contemporary fiction, have a laptop, and listen to music via MP3s and computers (but they don’t have a DVR). At home, Hotmail users lounge around in a t-shirt and jeans. They’re introverts who prefer sweet snacks and like working on a team. They consider themselves more pessimistic, but sometimes it depends on the situation.
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It defines itself as a new way to help people make all kinds of decisions and results are based on the collective knowledge of its users
Yahoo! users Yahoo! users are most likely to be overweight women aged between 18 and 49 years who have a high school diploma and are spiritual, but not religious. They tend to be politically middle of the road, in a relationship of 1-5 years, and have children. Yahoo! users live in the suburbs or in rural areas and haven’t travelled outside their own country. Family is their first priority. They mostly read magazines, are almost equally likely to have a laptop or desktop computer, listen to the radio and CDs, and watch TV on one or two DVRs in their home. At home, Yahoo! users lounge around in pyjamas. They’re extroverts who prefer sweet snacks and like working on a team. Yahoo! users are optimistic or pessimistic, depending on the situation.
AOL users AOL users are most likely to be overweight women aged between 35 and 64 years who have a high school diploma and are spiritual, but not religious. They tend to be politically middle of the road, in a relationship of 10+ years, and have children. AOL users live in the suburbs and haven’t travelled outside their own country. Family is their first priority. AOL users mostly read magazines, have a desktop computer, listen to the radio, and watch TV on 1-3 DVRs in their home. At home, they lounge around in sweats. AOL users are optimistic extroverts who prefer sweet snacks and like working on a team. More detailed findings are available on Hunch www.hunch.com