Sify Leads internet protocol version 6 (IPV6) deployment in India

Sify Limited, India’s premier Internet, Networks, eCommerce services company announced today the commercial deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), the next generation IP protocol designed to replace the current IPv4.

The Internet as we know it today, developed on the IPv4 protocol over the last twenty years, is beginning to have limitations. The need for additional IP addresses is now growing exponentially as these are required for all devices that can access the Internet. This includes the rapidly growing base of mobile Internet users as well as other devices such as PDAs to access the Internet. As well as Internet access increasingly made available on commercial aircraft, trains etc. Just as people have a unique phone number for their use, IPv6 ensures unique IP addresses, each a numerical string of a hundred numerals, that is unique to every device.

Commenting on Sify’s deployment of IPv6, Mr.Rustom Irani, Chief Technology Officer, Sify Limited, said “Sify has been at the forefront of IPV6 deployment in India to ensure our customers will be able to move to the new protocol as and when they are ready. This will enable our customers to allocate unique IP addresses for all their devices with the trillions of IP addresses available under IPv6 instead of sharing IP addresses using techniques such as Network Translation. The IPv6 protocol also ensures greater functionality, including inbuilt security features making communications more secure, as well as ‘plug and play’ convenience- doing away with the need to configure every device to access the Internet”.

“Sify’s deployment of IPv6 ensures current IPv4 infrastructure can be shared for Wide Area Network (WAN) routers, Local Area Network (LAN) infrastructure and will be compatible with the latest version of Operating Systems like Windows and Linux with dual stack enabled hosts for both versions to operate concurrently and smoothly. This enables Internet access over IPv6, peering with other IPv6 ISPs worldwide and access to the global IPv6 Internet. This is because Sify’s IPv6 initiative leverages its Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) enabled infrastructure to provide seamless access between the two domains”, added Mr Irani.