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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, in the Legislative Council today (January 26):

Question:

With the growing popularity of the Internet, the problem of shortage of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses is getting worse. To deal with the problem, the relevant international standards organisation advocated in 1994 that the IP adopted for Internet infrastructure be migrated from version 4 (IPv4) to version 6 (IPv6). To this end, a number of countries and regions, including the Mainland, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia have initiated active preparations, such as setting up dedicated teams or departments to formulate related policies and standards, implementing pilot schemes and conducting researches on related technologies, products and applications. In this regard, will the Government inform this Council whether:

(a) it has assessed the benefits to our society which will be brought about by the migration from IPv4 to IPv6 for adoption in Internet infrastructure;

(b) it has devised a work plan, such as setting up a coordination task force, establishing a research and development centre to support the development of products and services compatible with IPv6; if it has, of the details, timetable and public expenditure involved; and

(c) it has exchanged views with the relevant organisations of other countries and regions on issues of policy, technological development and standards relating to IPv6; and whether it will establish partnership with the relevant organisations of other countries and regions, in particular the Mainland, on establishing a IPv6 trial network to facilitate researches?

Reply:

Madam President,

(a) The IPv4 and IPv6 technologies are technically incompatible, and the industry expects that both technologies would have to co-exist for some time. Interest in the deployment of IPv6 technology has been increasing in recent years, particularly in Asian countries, including the Mainland, Japan and Korea where their IPv4 address allocations have been depleting quickly as a result of growth in Internet penetration. One of the drivers for IPv6 comes from the demand of Internet-connected wireless and consumer electronic devices. The operation of these devices will increase the pressure to enable enterprise networks and applications to run on IPv6 (as well as IPv4) because most of the newer mobile/wireless devices will be capable of adopting or supporting IPv6.

We have been monitoring the demand for Internet services based on IPv6 in Hong Kong in the last few years. Our feedback is that the local market demand is still very small by comparison, and as a result, computer systems, e.g. servers and routers, based on IPv6 are still uncommon. To some extent, this situation can be attributed to the fact that IPv6 is not yet mature technically, and there are, therefore, very few applications. Besides, adopting IPv6 to perform the same functions using IPv4 would not be well justified. Moreover, the transition to IPv6 is still technically a painstaking process, and for the many companies that had acquired their Internet systems recently, it would be a costly exercise. A key consideration is the availability of applications that can make the best use of the IPv6 features. From the industry's perspective, investors are still waiting for the so-called "killer application" that will attract customer use so that it will be more cost effective to develop the technology further.

(b) Although the industry is still watching over the development direction and market opportunity of IPv6, Government has lent its support to the development and deployment of IPv6. In early 2003, the Internet2 Project was launched to provide academic and research services, including the development of IPv6, to universities in Hong Kong with links established to the Mainland, North America, etc. Other IPv6 related initiatives were also rolled out in the past few years. In December 2003, the Hong Kong Wireless Development Centre was set up to provide end-to-end infrastructure support of mobile and wireless application development in Hong Kong, including the use of IPv6. In March 2004, the Hong Kong Internet Exchange (HKIX) started operation of its Hong Kong IPv6 Exchange (HK6IX) although IPv6 utilisation was still very low. Furthermore, the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC), which manages ".hk" domain names under an agreement with the Government, is planning to offer IPv6 domain name service in 2006.

(c) The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) oversees the worldwide distribution and registration policies of both IPv4 and IPv6 addressing. Government has first-hand information on the development and adoption of IPv6 globally through its participation in the Governmental Advisory Committee under ICANN which monitors the progress on this front regularly. In addition, the Government is setting up a liaison group to ensure timely and smooth communication, and to share knowledge and experience, among the different components of the Internet infrastructure, including the Hong Kong Internet Exchange (HKIX), the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited (HKIRC) as well as the Internet service providers through the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association (HKISPA). This liaison group will also act as a forum for monitoring progress on development and adoption of IPv6 in Hong Kong.

Separately, we have included IPv6 as a technical standard in our future review of the Government's Interoperability Framework.

Ends/Wednesday, January 26, 2005

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