Windows 7 Certified IPv6 Ready as IPv4 Address Space Drops Below 5%

Windows 7 has received a new certification deeming it ready for Internet Protocol version 6, and the announcement could not come at a better time.

Just as the IPv6 Consortium wrapped up Phase-2 testing for the last Windows client and Server platforms from Microsoft, independently of the group, the Number Resource Organization (NRO) announced that the total volume of available IPv4 address space dropped below 5%.

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And fact is that the IPv4 free pool has been drying up at an accelerated rate. It dropped under the 10% mark just nine months ago in January 2010, and at the current rate it will be completely dried up in 2011.

“This is a major milestone in the life of the Internet, and means that allocation of the last blocks of IPv4 to the RIRs is imminent,” revealed Axel Pawlik, Chairman of the Number Resource Organization (NRO), the official representative of the five RIRs.

“It is critical that all Internet stakeholders take definitive action now to ensure the timely adoption of IPv6.”

The world needs to transition to IPv6 as soon as possible. This also implies making the jump to an operating system that supports IPv6, such as Windows 7.

“The University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory has certified Windows 7 as IPv6 Ready, which confirms via third-party testing that the IPv6 protocol in Windows 7 complies with interoperability and conformance tests defined by the IPv6 Ready Logo committee,” revealed Joe Davies, Principal Writer for the Windows Server Documentation Team.

Along with Windows 7, there are additionally Windows platforms from Microsoft that have been certified IPv6 Ready after they passed Phase-2 testing, including Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows Mobile CE and Windows Server 2008 R2.

IPv4 was able to support no more than 4.3 billion Internet addresses, and this number is about to end. IPv6 is a tad larger, namely 3.4×1038.

It is critical to understand that with IPv4 address space running out in 2011, migration to IPv6 must start as soon as possible.

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