“IPv6:  the World’s New Internet Protocol—

Is America ready to defend its leadership of the Internet universe?”

By

Mr. Joel B. Coulter, President, Mobile Sciences Consortium, LLC

Dr. Samuel Lee Hancock, CM, President, HANCOCK INTERNATIONAL

and Executive Director, The Eurasia Center

The Eurasian Center/Eurasian Business Coalition

and the INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR

Partners with the World Future Society U.S. National Capital Region Chapter

For the Global IPv6 Forum in Washington, D.C.

The Eurasia Center/Eurasian Business Coalition and the INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR television program partnered with the World Future Society United States National Capital Region Chapter (NatCapWFS) to sponsor a Global IPv6 Forum.  The IPv6 Global Forum was held in Washington, D.C. at the epic center of the World’s Internet, military-industry complex, and the Global War on Terrorism infrastructure.  Participating as panelists on this Forum were: Mark Bayliss, President, Visual Link Internet; Joel B. Coulter, President, Mobile Sciences Consortium; Chris Harz, Program Director, IPv6 Summit; Louis McDonald, Chief Technology Officer, Virginia Center of Innovative Technology and Yurie Rich, Business Director, North American IPv6 Task Force.

IPv4, the current global Internet infrastructure, was developed by the leaders of America’s Internet at the cost of some US$15billion invested over the past 30 years.  IPv6 is a quantum Internet protocol upgrade to replace the current antiquated IPv4.  The new protocol will allow true point-to-point secure global communication across digital devices.  IPv6 will address the world-wide IP address shortages.  America currently uses over 50% of all the IP addresses available to the world under IPv4.  Even though IPv6 was discovered and developed in the United States, the new protocol and solutions it provides is experiencing rapid growth in Korea, Japan, and China in Asia and France and the Netherlands in Europe.       

These Asian and European nations realize that the countries which take the lead on setting the next generation global Internet standards, policies, and producing the next generation digital solutions, will greatly enhance their GDP (gross domestic product).  It has been estimated by some economists in the United States Federal Reserve Bank and the World Bank that as much as one-third of the United States GDP is generated through the Internet and related products and services.  This is an amount of some US$3.376 trillion annually and rising.   It was reported in the Global IPv6 Forum that Asia, Europe, and Russia could reduce America’s current Internet revenues by some 50 percent if it does not urgently leverage its Internet investments, Such a dire situation could further increase America’s balance of trade debt and lower American standard of living.

As these facts have become clearer, leaders of Congress, Office of the President, and the Department of Defense have issued mandates to transition all Government agencies Internet network infrastructure to IPv6 by 2008.  The United States is just now beginning to significantly invest in IPv6.  These mandates have established a Government/Industry leadership team.  This “Team” is to advance America’s transition to this next generation internet infrastructure and solutions. 

The NatCapWFS and The Eurasia Center/EBC organized this internationally televised global Forum to educate key leaders of high technology, business, banking, investment firms, global traders, and government officials.  The televised panel presentations provided an orientation to IPv6.  Panelists also discussed the communications, economic, security, and international impacts on the United States through this new protocol.  An eye-opening topic was the implications of non-democratic countries, dictatorships, and the al-Qaeda terrorist network seeking control of or influence over global IPv6 standards, policies, and networks.  By seeking such control for their own purposes currently leaves the United States government, industry, banking, and education networks vulnerable to hidden IPv6 Denial of Service attacks, Cyber warfare, internet surveillance, identify theft, and actual shutdown of the Internet.

The panel was modarated by Eric Garland, Futurist and Program Chair of the NatCapWFS.  Robert Sherretta, President/Producer of the INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR and Dr. Samuel Lee Hancock, Executive Director, The Eurasia Center conducted the broadcast interviews.  A 30 minute edited broadcast is available by satellite television networks in 132 countries and 55 major American cities.  The broadcast can be seen through www.international-investors.com.   The results from this Global IPv6 Forum through active participation by the influential community of IPv6 evangelists in multiple conferences and meetings with Congress, Department of Defense (DOD), and Department of Homeland Security officials are:

• Properly preparing American representatives to various United Nations and other world forums to lobby against changing United States and ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) leadership as being proposed by China, Iran, Brazil, and other less open societies.

• Insisting on “First Responder Communications and International IPv6” protocols as a priority focus;

• Establishing a partnership for a new IPv6 Test & Standards Center in Northern Virginia, USA by V6 Transition and Spirent to accelerate Government transition to IPv6;

• Creating a Science of Information Institute to allow nations to share their IPv6 Research and Development (R&D), solution development, testing, and applications through the World Wide Web.  Such new international partnerships allow for American IPv6 standards, policies, IP communications, and security firewalls to be collaboratively developed with our strategic energy partners in Africa, Eurasia, and Russia.

IPv6‘s new features allow for:  digital/mobile communications; multimedia content streaming; IPTV entertainment; eCommerce; as well as global collaboration and communication for joint Defense and Homeland Security systems at ports, national borders, and to protect critical business/energy infrastructure.  The enhanced interoperable communication and multimedia multicast streaming capabilities across mobile devices offers First Responders the ability to intelligently share vital situational awareness, medical, and disaster data with other local, state, federal and international disaster response agencies.  Emergency response teams with IPv6 have real-time access to maps, portable video monitors at crisis sites, medical services, and disaster data that improves their actions and decisions to prevent further property losses, streamline evacuations, and reduce the loss of life. 

In light of these many intrinsic benefits all speakers on the Panel emphasized that the United States must continue its leadership for the new IPv6 generation as it did under the current IPv4.   Various speakers highlighted IPv6 features and functions that can be used as catalysts for global public/private development partnerships.  Regressive governmental regimes could implement repressive IPv6 standards and polices to inhibit open collaborative communications are key to individual freedom, sustainable growth, disaster response, and democracy if America does not keep its global Internet leadership position.

Terrorism is a global war that requires all enlightened, progressive, and democratically functioning countries to work together to secure critical government, energy, health care, economic, and social infrastructures.  The United States must actively work with its Eurasian partners to ensure that the global Internet standards are set by those nations dedicated to free, open, and transparent governments.  If these nations, in concert with the United States, do not protect the next generation Internet, islands of communication isolation will continue in such areas as Africa, the Caribbean, Middle East, South America, and Central Asia.  Such pockets promote the growth of terrorism, significantly slow global economic expansion, and inhibit emergency response to natural or man-made disasters.   The current lack of IPv6 collaboration and agreement on IPv6 standards can have dire consequences such as the Asian Bird Flu spreading rapidly through humans in socio-economic isolated regions with limited emergency communication capabilities.

The Eurasia Center/EBC and the INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR takes great pride in cooperating with the NatCapWFS to educate the world through next generation technology forums.  Such forums offer technology entrepreneurs a global education and communication channel to Government, industry, and investment leaders in 55 American cities and 132 nations.  Such channels could launch world-wide technology convergence partnerships.  Such partnerships will bring great promises for many generations to come through the new IPv6 connectivity around the globe. 

Just ‘Click’ to view the “IPv6:  the World’s New Internet Protocol” Broadcast

produced by the INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR…

This article was developed with the collaboration of:

Mr. Mark Bayliss, President, Visual Link Internet, LLC, World AirWaves, and Cobalt Racks, L.L.P.;

Mr. Eric Garland, Futurist and Program Chair, NatCapWFS; 

Mr. Chris Harz, Program Director, IPv6 Summit, Inc.;

Mr.  Louis McDonald, Chief Technology Officer, Virginia Center of Innovative Technology;

Mr. Yurie Rich, President, Native6 Inc. and Business Director, North American IPv6 Task Force;

Ms. Limor Schafman, President, Keystone Technologies Group and Past Chairman, NatCapWFS; and

Mr. David Stein, Editor-in-Chief, FUTUREtakes.