Openness makes for success in Internet Governance

[HONG KONG – Tuesday, 22 June 2010]
A weeklong series of Internet Governance discussions focused on the Asia Pacific took place last week in Hong Kong. The Asia Pacific Regional Internet Governance Forum (APrIGF) saw more than 20 economies represented, with delegates from Civil Society, the Internet technical community, Business, and Government, all cooperating to make the inaugural event a success.

Regional IGF meetings are an important part of the multi-stakeholder approach to local, regional and global Internet Governance, explained Paul Wilson, Director General, APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre), the Regional Internet Registry for the Asia Pacific region.

“APNIC is very pleased for the opportunity to support this event as
Grand Sponsor. Regional IGF’s such as this assist the global Internet
Governance process by providing a venue for meaningful dialogue, drawn
from diverse stakeholders and feeding into the global IGF process. This
multi-stakeholder approach has enabled global Internet development
during the past two decades,” Mr Wilson said.

“This regional event is the multi-stakeholder model in action,” Mr
Wilson said. “It is no accident that the Internet succeeded. Open and
collaborative governance allows for continuous evolution,” he said.

At the “Managing Critical Internet Resources in the Asia Pacific”
session, conversation focused on Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4)
address exhaustion and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) infrastructure
deployment. While most of the current Internet uses IPv4 addresses,
only 6% of available IPv4 addresses remain unallocated. Delegates heard
that a major push from all stakeholders is currently facilitating the
deployment of the newer IPv6 addresses.

Global statistics collated by Geoff Huston, Chief Scientist for APNIC,
demonstrate significant increases in IPv6 support, particularly in the
past year (http://www.potaroo.net/ispcol/2010-04/ipv6-measure.html).
Several high profile deployments by global brands such as Microsoft,
YouTube, and Google support these findings.

Within the Asia Pacific, the APNIC community has developed policies
including the APNIC ‘Kickstart IPv6’ (http://www.apnic.net/kickstart)
resulting in rapid allocation of addresses throughout the region.
Worldwide, there are already around 500 times as many IPv6 addresses
allocated than the number of IPv4 addresses allocated to date.

Mr Wilson said, “Each stakeholder must find the IPv6 solution that works
for them. However APNIC and the Internet technical community are
providing leadership to facilitate progress during this transition
period”.

Government also has an important role to play by showing leadership in
the national policy environment. “Governments must commit to IPv6
deployment across national networks and all tendering processes should
include IPv6 as a must,” Mr Wilson advised.

Any change to the IPv6 address management system could serve to distract
from emergent IPv6 deployment efforts, he warned. “My message is to put
all your efforts now into the deployment of IPv6. The existing address
management system will support you and will be open to all ideas for
change and evolution,” said Mr Wilson.

APNIC will be continuing discussion on Internet Governance issues at
APNIC 30 on the Gold Coast, Australia.

For more information on the APrIGF event, please visit: http://rigf.asia

For more information on APNIC Meetings, please visit:
http://meeting.apnic.net