Asian countries challenge US on next-gen Internet
Published: 30 Dec 2003 08:40 GMT
Japan, China and South Korea are reportedly planning to jointly develop Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), the next-generation Internet standard, in a move that will challenge the US-dominated market for current IPv4-based Internet technology.
The report in Nihon Keisai Shimbun, a Japanese business daily, said that the countries aimed to take the lead in Internet technologies, with a broad move to adopt IPv6 beginning in 2005.
It named several Japanese firms that it said would participate in the IPv6 development: Hitachi, Fujitsu, NEC Corp, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Nippon Telegraph, Mitsubishi Research Institute and Internet Initiative Japan. From Korea, the newspaper said that Samsung and Korea Telecom were expected to participate, along with Chinese firms such as China Telecommunications.
No Japanese government or corporate officials were available for comment on the report due to the New Year holidays, the Nihon Keisai added.
A spokesman from Japanese electronic giant Hitachi said that IPv6 had been discussed by the three governments at ministerial meetings, but said that he was not aware of any recent developments, and that Hitachi had no specific terms for Japanese-Chinese-Korean development.
IPv6 is seen as an answer to the upcoming shortage of IP addresses under the current IPv4 protocol. With vastly more IP addresses available under IPv6, the Nihon Keisai speculated there would be growth in the remote operation and management of even more Internet-enabled devices such as cars, smart tags and home appliances.
Already Japan's Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications has allocated $18,643,000 (£10,526,527) in annual funding for a Japanese IPv6 network that will connect around 100 local governments, corporations and households. The Nihon Keisai report said that similar IPv6 networks would be built in Korea and China, and then connected to the Japanese IPv6 network to create an international IPv6 network with shared standards.
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"... Can't we... all.... just get along ? ?" Rodney King -
depends siiix
