Development of IPv6 by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) began in 1993, in response to a series of perceived problems, primarily the exhaustion of the IPv4 address space. The issues surrounding IPv4 address depletion and IPv6 deployment are highly complicated, spreading across economical, technical, operational and policy dimensions. A non-exhaustive list of
articles and websites could be a useful reference to explore these issues in greater depth.
With regard to international public policy issues pertaining to the Internet and the management of critical Internet resources ITU is mandated by the following Resolutions:
- Plenipotentiary Resolutions 101, 102, 130, 133, 140, 174, 180, and 206
- ITU Council Resolutions 1282 (Rev. 2008), 1305 (2009), 1336 (Modified 2015), 1344 (Modified 2015)
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World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) Resolutions 47 , 48 , 50 , 64 , 69
- World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) Resolutions 20, 23, 30, 43, 63, 85.
ITU, with a unique public/private partnership composed of 193 governments and more than 540 private sector entities, could provide mechanisms for a consensus-based approach to deployment, management and policy making strategies relating to IPv6.
ITU is contributing actively in areas such as:
- Promotion, capacity building and technical assistance for developing countries
- Cooperation and contribution to the work of relevant organizations (e.g. RIRs)
- Technical and standardization issues as appropriate
ITU is working together with other organizations including IETF, Regional Internet Registries or RIRs and/or the Number Resource Organization (NRO) and ICANN in driving IPv6 deployment.