关键字：IPv6 IPv4
对于那些可能不知道或不了解正式推出 IPv6 象征什么意义的读者们，这里将简单介绍这个规格是什么以及为什么会成为全球经济持续依赖网际网络的一个重要里程碑。 IPv6 延续 IPv4 而来，它是管理全球网络使用的最新技术协议，如同网络协会在其官网上的用户指南中所解释的：
“......独特的32位数字，可找出用户的计算机网络位置。它可作为用户计算机的‘街道地址’，激活其它计算机去找出用户的确切所在，并传送信息给用户。”
而这种专业技术跟我们有什么关系呢？由于上一代的 IPv4 网际网络协议(IP)已用罄所有可用的 IP 地址，这意味着用户在透过智能手机、平板电脑、智能家电、打印机以及各种可连网设备的爆发性网络使用体验可能因为设备缺乏IP地址而受限。网际网络协会在其声明中说：
“根据号码资源组织(Number Resource Organization，NRO)，全球 IPv4 地址已经在2011年4月耗尽。现在唯一能做的就是将 IP 进一步划分成更小部份或交换已经分配过的──但这可能会变得更加复杂，并危及用户的隐私。“
对于重度依赖网络应用程序利用率持续成长的通讯、数据与连网服务供货商、电信设备制造商、 ISP ，以及像 Google 、 Facebook 等公司，都已经十分敏锐地意识到这一点了。这就是为什么许多这些厂商们在一年前展开合作，首次在全球激活 IPv6 试行，经过一年后，终于在上周正式发布 IPv6 了！这一次，来自全球的400多家公司与组织均参与了此次的规格发布。包括Akamai、Facebook、Google与Yahoo等几家公司也已经将 其所有的内容全部转移到IPv6了。
在IPv6于全球发布前，业界已采取了一些中间步骤。对于开发中的经济区域，从终端用户 的角度来看，其中最重要的一次或许是 Semana IPv6 ──针对采用 IPv4 版(现仍广泛部署)的网络服务与即将发布的 IPv 6之间是否完全兼容的南美互通作业性测试大会。一些主要地区的电信业者、 ISP 以及来自拉丁美加勒比海等洲与的其它机构都参与了这次由巴西召集安排的会议。
对于设计工程师和其它创新者也带来了一些意义。以前，我着重于公司如何在其产品中加入连接性设计。这就是物联网(IoT)。 然而，一个新的范例正发展出一个未来所有具连接能力的产品都将会以实现这个 IoT 的目标而设计的。
意大利米兰理工大学的Maurizio Decina并首次宣布，所有的创新者之间正形成一个共识──擘划出一个由物联网管理的未来。这意味着，人们和企业最常共同使用的对象将拥有随插即可联网的能力。
对于电子产品制造商，未来将在各经济领域开启更多机会，并在消费者、制造业、医疗、工业与服务市场引爆对于现有电子 产品附加更多功能的需求。这种可提供预定产品的可能性最近已在欧洲针对数字产业召开的NEXt大会上加以讨论了。坦白说，我以前从没有想过 IPv6 能因为消除存在 IPv4 内的原有限制，因而进一步推动了这些创新。
即使是以市场演进的观点来看，根据在此领域最积极活跃 的Truth Dare Double Dare公司共同创办人Jeremy Tai Abbett表示，接下来，我们将看到一大堆新创公司成立，他们将以探索跨学科的途径，开发下一代物联网产品。顺便说一下，所有的产品并不一定得是数字化的装置：许多非数字化的产品将会附加可联网的工具，甚至包括一些你常丢在抽屉中不用的东西！
Connectivity Beyond Digital Products
Matteo Bertozzi, Academic Professor & Industrial Executive
One year after the first initial trial, World IPV6 is finally becoming a reality. Major telecommunication companies, Internet service providers, Web companies, and networking equipment vendors are teaming up to accelerate the deployment and adoption of the technology in key economic regions of the globe. The Internet Society on June 6 summed it up in a statement noting: "This time it is for real." It's undoubtedly the case that there's no going back on IPv6, but what does this mean for your business and customers' operations?
For those who may not know or understand the significance of the formal launch of IPv6, here's a primer on what it is and why this is a significant milestone for the continued reliance of the global economy on the Internet. IPv6 succeeds IPv4 and is the latest technical protocol governing the use of the Internet globally. IPv6, as the Internet Society explains in a User's Guide on its Website, is a:
...unique 32-bit number that identifies the location of your computer network. It serves as your computer's 'street address,' enabling other computers to find out exactly where you are and deliver information to you.
Why should you bother about such technicalities? Because IPv4, the preceding Internet protocol, has exhausted all its available IP addresses, which means the exploding use and adoption of Web-ready devices, including smartphones, tablet PCs, smart household gadgets, printers, and others, could be crimped by lack of IP addresses for the equipment. The Internet Society said in the above-referenced statement:
According to the Number Resource Organization, the world officially ran out of IPv4 address in February 2011. All that can be done now is to divide the allocated properties into ever-smaller portions or trade what's already been assigned -- moves that could complicate and compromise your privacy.
Communications, data, and networking service providers, manufacturers of telecom equipment, ISPs, and companies like Google, Facebook, and others that are heavily dependent on continued growth in the use of Web applications are keenly aware of this. That's why many of these companies one year ago teamed up to run the first global trial of IPv6, an event now eclipsed by last week's formal launch of the new Internet protocol. This time, more than 400 companies and organizations from around the world took part in the launch. Several, including Akamai, Facebook, Google, and Yahoo have transitioned their entire content to IPv6 from the older protocol.
Several intermediate steps were taken before the global launch. One of the most important, from the end users' perspective for developing economic regions, was probably SemanaIPv6, the South American testing conference for full interoperability between Internet services working with current IPv4 version (still mostly deployed) and the incoming IPv6. The major regional telecom operators, ISPs, and other institutions from all over Latin America and the Caribbean attended the event, which was coordinated from Brazil.
There are implications for design engineers and other innovators too. In a previous blog, I focused on how companies are trying to design connectivity into their products. I called this the Internet of Things. A new paradigm is developing, however, one that in the future assumes all products that have the capability for connectivity will be designed with that goal in mind. This emerging consensus among innovators -- announced for the first time by Maurizio Dècina of Italy's Politecnico di Milano -- projects a future governed by the phrase "Internet of Things." This implies that the most common objects used by people and enterprises would have the capability to "plug" into the Internet.
For electronics manufacturers, this future would open up opportunities in all segments of the economy and explode current demand for electronics add-ons in consumer, manufacturing, medical, industrial, and service markets. This possibility to deliver bespoke products was recently discussed at NEXt, the leading European conference for the digital industry. Honestly, I never thought before about the innovations IPv6 could foster by removing constraints inherent in the finite nature of IPv4.
Even in terms of market evolution, according to Jeremy Tai Abbett, creative partner and co-founder of Truth Dare Double Dare, and one of the most active people in the sector, we are going to see an explosion in the number of newly formed startup companies that will explore multi-disciplinary approaches to developing the next generation of Internet of Things products. By the way, not all of these products will be digital devices: Many non-digital things will be enhanced with connectivity tools, including some items you regularly toss into a drawer!