September 26, 2012

SIP Forum Launches Task Group to Explore SIP & IPv6 Connection

By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

While the need for IPv6 is quite clear, the exact methods – and timetables – for execution in response to that need is somewhat unclear in many cases. Some aren't even sure how IPv6 will react to many common Internet applications, and thus, more and more subsections of Internet applications are looking into the matter more closely.

The SIP Forum (News - Alert) is no different, and has, to that end, announced the formation of a special task group today to further investigate the various issues surrounding the convergence of SIP and IPv6.

The task group, led by CableLabs' John Berg and Siemens (News - Alert) Enterprise Communications' Andrew Hutton, will be specifically focused on issues related to SIP over the IPv6 protocol, the related impact of technologies designed to transition users from IPv4 to IPv6 – the results of "dual stack devices on existing SIP networks."

The task group numbers over 120 people across the industry, and is signing on new members with each passing day.

Additionally, the task group will also serve as both resource and adviser for those dealing with issues of SIP over IPv6, as well as performing review functions over the work of other entities in the field like UCIF, UPnP and the CEA IPv6 Working Group in a bid to avoid duplication of efforts.

They'll further assess current and upcoming technologies, as well as relevant strategies, for ensuring that SIP and IPv6 will be able to get along in the same space.

“The SIP Over IPv6 Task Group will play an important role in identifying the challenges facing the telecommunications industry in migrating to SIP over IPv6,” said Marc Robins (News - Alert), SIP Forum's president and managing director, describing the importance of the group's efforts. “This is a complex transition, involving issues critical to the foundation of the future Internet. This new task group is charged with developing the strategy and best course of action to guide the IP communications industry toward the smoothest transition to IPv6.”

The importance of getting Internet applications to work with IPv6 cannot be understated. With the limits being reached on IPv4 address enrollment, a new protocol will be necessary in order to ensure that new Web addresses can actually exist. IPv6 also offers a variety of new features, including extra security and improvements specifically geared toward real-time communications methods.

But since IPv6 is an entirely different protocol from IPv4, it's going to require some changes in the way the software operates along with it. Just what form those changes will take, and at what level they will have to be undertaken, is as yet unclear, hence the purpose of groups like SIP Forum's task group.

The impressive levels of success seen by the use of Internet applications requires a stable foundation on which to operate, and hopefully, groups like SIP Forum will manage to get IPv6 as fully operational as it can be.

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Edited by Braden Becker