Why IPv6 is STILL Like Brocolli

From the ‘It’s Good For You!’ files:

We’ve all known for years that IPv6 is the way to go as IPv4 address space dwindled.

Three years ago, Leslie Daigle, CTO of the Internet Society explained that IPv6 was like Brocolli– something we know is good for us, but don’t want to eat.

Now as we are formally in the IPv6 era, following yesterday’s World IPv6 Launch, I thought it would be a good opportunity to ask Daigle if she still thinks that IPv6 is like broccoli.

“I’ve said in the past that IPv6 is a ‘brocolli’ technology,” Daigle responded. “I still think it is a tech everybody knows it would be good if we ate more of it but nobody wants to eat it without the cheese sauce.

Collectively we’re figuring out that broccoli doesn’t taste so bad and quite honestly we’re ready to clear our plates and get onto desert.”

With IPv6 usage now starting to rise – albeit slowly, broccoli is still an apt metaphor in my opinion. While thousands have implemented IPv6, millions more still need to do so.

Google is seeing massive spikes of IPv6, as much as 150 percent in the last year and Facebook has over 20 million IPv6 users.

There are still hundreds of million, no – Billions of users more for the Internet as a whole to move to IPv6. Guess we better stock up on that cheese sauce for the broccoli….

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news service of the IT Business Edge Network, the network for technology professionals Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.