IPv6 Now Project: Hong Kong Ready for the Next Step towards IPv6

Media Alert

[Hong Kong – 31 January, 2013] The Internet Society Hong Kong announced today the success of the HKSAR Government-initiated “IPv6 In Action” campaign. Two benchmarking surveys conducted before and after the campaign revealed:

  • Elevated awareness levels of IPv4 and IPv6 among the public and SMEs Internet users (IPv4: 71 per cent to 88 per cent, IPv6: 57.5 per cent to 86 per cent);
  • More people are aware about the depletion of IPv4 address space (68 per cent to 81 per cent);
  • More people understand that IPv6 is not directly compatible with IPv4 and action needs to be taken in order to enable IPv6 in their usual Internet environment (40 per cent to 57 per cent);
  • More home users and organisations have taken action to implement IPv6 (home users: 43 per cent to 53 per cent, organisations 57 per cent to 68 per cent); and
  • Over 80 per cent of respondents who have participated in the “IPv6 In Action” campaign found the activities useful to help them prepare for the transition to IPv6

The Internet Society Hong Kong is now urging all sectors to take advantage of the effectiveness of this public-wide campaign and continue efforts in sustaining Hong Kong’s role as the regional ICT hub with leading Internet technology on par with the global standard.

Mr Daniel Lai, BBS, JP, Government Chief Information Officer, said, “With the great result rendered by the ‘IPv6 In Action’ campaign, Hong Kong is able to maintain its forefront position in the global ICT industry. It is a great achievement in supporting the deployment of IPv6. We believe that the majority of Internet users in Hong Kong are now ready to embrace the wide-spread deployment of the new Internet standard. We look forward to local Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to complete the local Internet service’s comprehensiveness by offering residential IPv6 connection to address the demand in the market before it is too late.”

Mr Charles Mok, Founding Chairman of the Internet Society Hong Kong (ISOC HK) and Head of the “IPv6 In Action” Project, said, “We are proud to support the Government’s push in IPv6 deployment and in leading the society to the next generation of the Internet. We have established a solid foundation for community-wide adoption of IPv6 in order to keep the Internet growing. ISOC HK will keep working with the Government and various industry stakeholders to encourage the use of IPv6 through education, certification and training programmes. We are ready to educate local users how to select the best IPv6 service based on their individual needs when local ISPs start to offer native IPv6 service for home users.”

Two sets of benchmarking surveys were conducted in the first and last quarter of 2012 by City University of Hong Kong (CityU), commissioned by ISOC HK, to find out the awareness and knowledge levels of IP address among Hong Kong’s general public and SMEs. In between the surveys, ISOC HK organised the “IPv6 In Action”, a campaign sponsored by the HKSAR Government to promote and educate Internet users in Hong Kong on why and how to transit to IPv6. The two surveys with over 400 respondents on average were conducted online through an independent survey portal powered by CityU. Dr Daniel Tse of the Department of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong, points out, “Raising the awareness and urging for planning are merely the first steps, more work is necessary in order to guide the public and SMEs to a complete IPv6 environment. It is crucial for the government, NGOs, education and commercial sectors to work closely to make sure that Hong Kong’s maintain its competitiveness as a regional ICT hub.”

“IPv6 In Action” is a promotional campaign organised by ISOC HK in accordance to the HKSAR Office of the Government Chief Information Officer’s initiative, to promote the awareness of IPv6 services in Hong Kong, in particular the general public and SMEs. The year-long campaign was composed of a trilingual thematic website (www.ipv6now.hk), a bilingual consumer guide titled “All about IPv6”, a series of seminars targeting SMEs, teachers and students, three radio dramas, and media interviews and articles on mass-circulated newspapers, and magazines and online websites. The campaign culminated with the World IPv6 Launch on 6 June 2012, where global technology giants with daily website traffic of over 1 billion and major ISPs, home networking equipment manufacturers and Internet content service providers came together to permanently enable IPv6 for their product and services, while locally ISOC HK partnered with Cyberport to host a conference attracted over 270 participants. The campaign also received support from various technology industry associations.

The HKSAR Government is also active in leading the city to the next generation of the Internet. One of its recent actions was the enhancement of free public Wi-Fi service, GovWiFi, which supports IPv6 to enable users to access more websites supporting this new Internet communications standard, to about 400 premises all over Hong Kong.

What is IPv6?

2011 was a key year for the internet, because the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address space at the global level were exhausted at the beginning of the year. Unless action is taken, Internet users will face with the risk of increased costs and limited functionality when it acquires new Internet services. The only long-term solution is to deploy Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), which offers over trillions of times more IP addresses than IPv4.

More Information: http://www.ipv6now.hk/en/WhatisIPv6.php

About the Internet Society Hong Kong

Internet Society Hong Kong (ISOC HK) is the local chapter organization of the Internet Society (ISOC), which is an international, professional, not-for-profit membership society with more than 100 organizations and more than tens of thousands individual members in over 90 chapters around the world, providing leadership in all issues confronting the current and future Internet. ISOC HK was formed in 2005 by local veteran Internet professionals with the mission to improve the practice of Internet governance and online civil society in Hong Kong. Consistent with the ISOC statement of purpose, ISOC HK believes in “maintaining and extending the development and availability of the Internet and its associated technologies and applications – both as an end in itself, and as a means of enabling organizations, professions, and individuals locally and worldwide to more effectively collaborate, cooperate, and innovate in their respective fields and interests.”

For more detailed information of Internet Society Hong Kong, please visit www.isoc.hk.

傳媒資訊

[香港-2013 年 1 月 31 日]香港互聯網協會今天宣佈由香港特區政府帶動的「啟動IPv6計劃」已取得成功。兩個分別於計劃前後進行的基準統計顯示:

  • 在家居及中小企互聯網用家的IPv4及IPv6認知度有所提升(IPv4:71%升至88%;IPv6:57.5%升至86%);
  • 更多人注意到IPv4地址已耗盡的情況(68%升至81%);
  • 更多人了解到IPv6與IPv4並不是直接互相兼容,用戶必須採取行動以令其原來的互聯網裝置及網絡支援IPv6(40%升至57%);
  • 更多家居用戶及公司已採取啟用IPv6行動(家居用戶:43%升至53%;企業用戶:57%升至68%);及
  • 超過八成曾參於「啟動IPv6計劃」之活動的受訪者認為本計劃有助他們為過渡至IPv6作出準備

香港互聯網協會現呼籲全港所有行業應利用今次全港性宣傳活動之成效,繼續保持本港作為區內資訊及通訊科技樞紐的優勢,並確保本港互聯網技術與全球標準一致。

政府資訊科技總監辦公室總監賴錫璋先生指出:「憑藉『啟動IPv6計劃」』的成功,香港得以維持它在全球資訊及通訊科技業界先驅的地位。這是香港政府作為支持IPv6發展的一大成果。我們相信本地大部份互聯網用戶現已為全面部署最新互聯網規約而準備就緒。我們期望本地互聯網服務供應商能夠即時回應本地需求,提供家用IPv6網絡連接服務,為本地的互聯網服務更殝完善。」

香港互聯網協會創會主席兼「啟動IPv6計劃」項目主管莫乃光先生表示:「能夠為政府推動IPv6部署及帶領本地社會進入互聯網的下一年代而出一分力,我們感到非常鼓舞。我們已成功為本地推動IPv6發展奠下了穩固的基礎,令網絡得以持續發展。香港互聯網協會將繼續透過教育、證書及培訓課程,與政府及各界有關人士推動IPv6的發展及使用。我們已準備好教育市民如何選擇最切合他們需要的IPv6服務,互聯網服務供應商可隨時開始為家居用戶提供本地IPv6連接。」

在2012年第一季及第四季,香港互聯網協會委託香港城市大學(城大)進行了兩項基準調查,以研究香港大眾市民及中小企對IP地址的認知水平。在兩項調查之間,香港互聯網協會舉辦了由香港特區政府贊助的「啟動IPv6計劃」,旨在提升及教育本地互聯網用戶為何及如何為互聯網網絡過渡至IPv6。兩項調查均在城大獨立網上調查平台進行,並平均獲得超過400個回應。香港城市大學資訊系統學系導師謝煥坤博士指出:「帶領公眾及中小企全面邁向IPv6互聯網環境,提升認知度及鼓勵用戶使用只是第一步,業界需要採取更進一步的行動。政府、非政府組織、教育界及商界必須攜手合作以確保香港作為區內資訊及通訊科技樞紐的優勢。」

「啟動IPv6計劃」是一個由香港互聯網協會為嚮應香港政府資訊科技總監辦公室而舉辦的宣傳活動,旨在提升本地IPv6互聯網服務的認知度,尤其在公眾及中小企層面。這個長達一年的計劃活動包括一個兩文三語的主題網站「啟動IPv6.香港」 (
http://www.ipv6now.hk/http://www.啟動IPv6.香港)、一本中英對照的消費者指南用書「IPv6全攻略」、一連串針對中小企、老師及學生的研討會、三齣電台廣播劇、以及一系列傳媒訪問及於主流報章、雜誌及網站撰文。是次計劃的主打活動是2012年6月6日「世界IPv6啟動」活動,來自環球各地、每天瀏覽量超過十億次的主要互聯網巨擘,以及主要互聯網服務供應商、家庭網絡設備廠商和互聯網內容供應服務商等,於當日攜手在其產品及服務上,永久啟動IPv6。香港互聯網協會於同日與數碼港舉辦了一場吸引了270人的會議。整個「啟動IPv6計劃」亦得到多家科技業界的聯會支持。

香港特區政府亦致力帶領本地進入互聯網的新世代。最近,支援IPv6的本地免費公共Wi-Fi無線上網服務-「香港政府WiFi通」之服務場地已增至四百個。

什麼是 IPv6?

2011年對互聯網來說是關鍵的一年,因現行的互聯網規約第四版(IPv4)的位址空間,已於2011年年初耗盡。如果不採取行動,互聯網使用者將要承擔上網成本增加的風險,上網功能也會受到限制。唯一的長期解決方案,是採用互聯網規約第六版(IPv6)位址,它提供的位址空間比IPv4多億萬倍以上。

更多資料:http://www.ipv6now.hk/tc/WhatisIPv6.php

有關香港互聯網協會

香港互聯網協會(ISOC HK)是互聯網協會的香港分會,屬國際性的專業非牟利組織。會員遍佈全球超過九十個地區、有過百個組織成員及過萬名個人成員,帶領業界共同面對現今至未來的互聯網議題。香港互聯網協會於 2005 年由本地資深互聯網專業人員成立,旨在改善香港的互聯網管治及網上公民社會。香港互聯網協會貫徹互聯網協會的宗旨,香港互聯網協會堅持「維護和擴展互聯網的覆蓋和發展以及其相關技術和應用,並使互聯網成為促進全球和本地機構、行業及個人在其各自領域更有效地配合、協作和創新的工具。」

關於香港互聯網協會的詳情,請瀏覽www.isoc.hk