more IPv6 questions
Brent Finnegan -- March 29th, 2007
Tech blogs and journals across the country are abuzz with the latest news on IPv6, but I still haven’t seen anything in the local media about it.
A blogger on BUZZscreen wrote, “If Harrisonburg is successful with this implementation, this may pave the way for widespread IPv6 connectivity sooner than we think.” If. And when. Most tech articles I’ve read cite the lack of IPv6 support and security products as a major obstacle in the way of the Uncle Sam’s demand that all “defense and civilian agencies are ready to accept IPv6-based traffic” by next June.
An article in today’s Washington Post referenced the US IPv6 Summit held yesterday in Reston about “moving the whole Internet” as we know it over to IPv6:
The movement has been largely spearheaded by the federal government, which has mandated that all agencies be compatible with this new address system within the next 14 months. That’s caused a rush of companies… to offer a helping hand in the upgrade (and to grab a piece of the billions of dollars earmarked for the projects)
A DNR article about the Harrisonburg project from last summer reported that “World Airwaves is bearing the cost of the system, which Bayliss would not reveal. But he called it a substantial investment.” I wonder if they’re getting any of that federal money. If so, how much? Anyway, the WaPo article continues:
If the IPv6 evangelists are to be believed—then theoretically everything in the world can be networked. Your bed, your clothes, your toothbrush and your car will not only be able to talk to each other, but they can also exchange information with your friends’ razor, refrigerator and couch… IPv6 experts at the conference estimated it would take a minimum of a year for this technology to go mainstream in the United States.
Wow. Sounds like IPv6 could be used to create a wealth of (useless?) information. Ironically, there seems to be an informational vacuum surrounding the project here in H’burg. The Gross article says it will be available to local residents “in the third quarter of the year.” Ok, great. How can I get the service?
The only company referenced in the Gross article is Visual Link (note that World Airwaves was not mentioned once. Interestingly, there’s nothing I’ve seen in local IPv6 stories that references Visual Link). A quick look at their website shows that they offer webhosting and everything from dial-up to DS3 service.
When I called Visual Link, the lady that answered had absolutely no idea what IPv6 was.
God bless the age of information.
I’m guessing that this Visual Link company will be World Airwaves provider (they have to buy their bandwidth from someone, usually the phone company but there are many options). I’ll check with a friend to try to verify this.
harrisonburg is getting a monorail!!!!?
The monorail worked for Shelbyville!
Don’t forget about Ogdenville, North Haverbrook and Brockway. A monorail put them on the map… is the monorail here part of the planned Six Flags park?
Man, I was trying to think of an April Fools feature, and the monorail would have been perfect. Too bad the internet connection at my house has been down for at least 16 hours.
I wasn’t sure if you’d be down with an April Fools post. I really wanted to do a “Harrisonburg to get Olive Garden” story.
Ha. Nice.
Next year, perhaps ;)