According to the published IPv6 Observatory study, prepared for the European Commission by a private consulting company with the support of the University of Luxembourg and the Beijing Internet Institute, the Czech Republic is the leader in the implementation of IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6).

This is confirmed by data from the CZ.NIC Association, Administrator of the .cz national domain and a long-term promoter of the modernisation of Czech Internet and the transition to IPv6. The Czech Republic’s number one position, however, does not extend to the public administration. Unlike the country’s Ministries, which are doing well compared to the rest of Europe (one third have already implemented IPv6), local city and municipal authorities are still lagging behind in the implementation of the new protocol.

The Czech Republic, with 8.6 % of websites available over IPv6, is followed by Slovenia (5 %) and Luxembourg (4.6 %). “The implementation of IPv6 is essential for the future and further development of the Internet. The transition to this protocol is virtually unavoidable. Europe is probably going to run out of IPv4 addresses already this year. In this we will be following Asia, where administrators report that their stock ran out last year,” says the Chief Executive of the CZ.NIC Association, Ondrej Filip.

The long-term objectives of CZ.NIC include providing support for the transition to IPv6 to public administration. Through a Governmental Resolution from June 2009, all Ministers and Heads of other central bodies of State Administration committed to ensuring access to their websites via IPv6 by the end of 2010. According to the latest CZ.NIC survey, this commitment to modernisation has been met by more than a third of all ministries and several key institutions such as the Czech Telecommunication Office, the Office for the Protection of Competition and the Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Cadastre.

The situation for regional representatives/level, however, is much worse; only the websites of the Vysočina and Liberec regions are available over IPv6. Of the 26 websites of statutory cities, not a single one supports the new protocol yet, according to the survey.

“In order to help public administration with the transfer to IPv6, we have participated together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of the Interior in GEN6, a European project for the support of IPv6 access in public administration. As part of the project, our education centre, the CZ.NIC Academy, is providing courses for the IT specialists of the individual Ministries, cities, and municipalities free of charge. We also enable state administration to test the accessibility of the individual websites and try out the environment of a real IPv6 network in our laboratories”, adds Ondrej Filip.

The first dates for these courses are set for 3 May and 21 June 2012. To increase public awareness of the new protocol, the 2^nd World IPv6 Day event will be held on 6 June 2012. For this occasion, CZ.NIC is preparing a one-day, single-topic conference on the protocol. Wednesday, 6 June 2012 is also the announced date of a definitive transition to IPv6 by major technology players and many Internet service providers.

Further Information:

• Original news article – CZ.NIC Association website
• IPv6 Observatory study
• IPv6 protocol
• GEN6 project