IPV6 relation to FIRE

Some of the above-mentioned limitations of the current Internet can be considerably eased by a widespread adoption of the IPv6 Protocol: with the Action Plan for the deployment of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in Europe, the European Commission encourages this broad adoption of IPv6 on the basis of a specific action plan — with the ambitious goal that 25 % of Europe’s Internet users are using IPv6 by 2010. Apart from the urgent need for more IP address space, in future years IPv6 also offers many technological advantages that have a significant economic impact, e.g. IPv6 is expected to become a key driver for many new mobile/wireless applications and services, which might be too complicated and/or costly in an IPv4 environment (http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/ipv6).

The adoption of IPv6 is a prerequisite for any further research and development on the Internet of Things, the 3D Internet and the Internet of Services. However, as IPv6 was designed many years ago, it is already becoming apparent that the requirements of the Future Internet will go far beyond what IPv6 can offer.