[Chapter-delegates] NEWS RELEASE: Alexandre Cassen and Rémi Després Recognized for Excellence in Advancing IPv6 Next-Generation Internet Protocol

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Alexandre Cassen and Rémi Després Recognized for Excellence in Advancing
IPv6 Next-Generation Internet Protocol

Third Itojun Service Award presented at Internet Engineering Task Force
meeting

[Taipei, 16 November 2011] — The Itojun Service Award was presented today to
Alexandre Cassen and Rémi Després at the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) meeting held in Taipei, Taiwan. The awardees were recognized for
their implementation and design of “6rd,” an Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) protocol that aims to speed the transition to global deployment of
IPv6, which is critical to ensuring the continued growth and evolution of
the Internet. The 6rd protocol has been implemented by several Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) around the world, including Free – the second
largest ISP in France – as part of their efforts to deploy IPv6.

First awarded in 2009, the Itojun Service Award honors the memory of Dr.
Jun-ichiro “Itojun” Hagino, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 37. The
award, established by the friends of Itojun and administered by the Internet
Society (ISOC), recognizes and commemorates the extraordinary dedication
exercised by Itojun over the course of IPv6 development.

“Alexandre and Rémi’s efforts have helped to quickly bring a real IPv6
experience to hundreds of thousands of Internet users, demonstrating that
IPv6 deployment can be effectively implemented on a large scale by
commercial network providers,” said Jun Murai of the Itojun Service Award
committee and founder of the WIDE Project. “On behalf of the Itojun Service
Award committee, I am extremely pleased to present this award to Alexandre
and Rémi for the significant work they have done to advance IPv6 development
and deployment.”

The Itojun Service Award is focused on pragmatic contributions to developing
and deploying IPv6 in the spirit of serving the Internet. The award,
presented annually, includes a presentation crystal, a US$3,000 honorarium
and a travel grant.

Alexandre Cassen said, “It is truly an honor to have been selected to
receive the Itojun Service Award. As a software developer myself, It is
particularly touching to receive an award created in the memory of a coding
legend such as Itojun. I would also like to thank the entire team at Free
Telecom who, in 2007, implemented and deployed 6rd, allowing any subscriber
who asked for IPv6 to have it with a single click. As I write this, Free
Telecom has more than 1,500,000 subscribers using IPv6 every day, and all
new subscribers have IPv6 enabled by default. IPv6 is happening Itojun!”

Rémi Després said, “The Itojun award is the best possible recognition that
long efforts to make IPv6 deployment practicable have been useful to the
Internet community. Latecomer in IPv6 standardization, I was about to send
my first email to Itojun on a technical issue when I heard of his death. I
was even sadder since we undoubtedly would have otherwise enjoyed sharing
our ideas and our enthusiasm. Sharing the honor of this award with Alexandre
Cassen perfectly illustrates the great progress possible when a dynamic
network operator with a pioneer spirit and talented engineers adopts an
innovative and simple design. Making IPv6 operational on a large scale in
only five weeks will be remembered as a milestone of both of our
professional lives.”

Each Internet-connected device uses an Internet Protocol (IP) address and,
with the number of Internet-connected devices growing rapidly, the supply of
unallocated IPv4 addresses is expected to be exhausted worldwide within the
next year. APNIC, the regional Internet registry charged with allocating IP
addresses in the Asia-Pacific region, announced earlier this year that it
had reached its last block of IPv4 addresses available for allocation. To
help ensure the continued rapid growth of the Internet, IPv6 provides a huge
increase in the number of available addresses. And, while the technical
foundations of IPv6 are well established, significant work remains to expand
the deployment and use of IPv6.

IPv6 was developed within the IETF, the Internet’s premier standards-making
body responsible for the development of protocols used in IP-based networks.
IETF participants represent an international community of network designers,
operators, vendors, and researchers involved in the technical operation of
the Internet and the continuing evolution of Internet architecture. More
information on the Itojun Service Award is available
at:http://www.isoc.org/itojun

About IPv6
All devices that connect to the Internet need an Internet Protocol (IP)
address. Currently, the vast majority of the Internet uses IP version 4
(IPv4) addresses. IPv6 is the next generation address standard, offering a
far greater pool of public addresses than IPv4. IPv6 has been available for
use since 1999, but as the end of the available pool of IPv4 addresses
approaches, the need for more understanding, awareness, and deployment of
IPv6 is becoming more important.

About the Internet Engineering Task Force

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the Internet’s premier
technical standards body. It gathers a large open international community of
network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the
evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the
Internet. For more information, see: http://www.ietf.org

About the Internet Society
The Internet Society is the world’s trusted independent source of leadership
for Internet policy, technology standards, and future development. Based on
its principled vision and substantial technological foundation, the Internet
Society works with its members and Chapters around the world to promote the
continued evolution and growth of the open Internet through dialog among
companies, governments, and other organizations around the world. For more
information, see: http://www.internetsociety.org