HP: Enterprise driving European take-up of IPv6

Hardware giant HP has hailed the work of enterprise firms in driving adoption of IPv6 across Europe.

Speaking to IT Pro, Darren Parkes, networking consulting strategy lead at HP, said the European appetite for IPv6 is growing, albeit slowly in the UK.

The Chinese are already building IPv6 ready components and cars.

"I'm seeing a huge shift in mainland Europe. They really want to embrace it," Parkes told IT Pro. "In the UK, we are a little more risk adverse and we tend to worry about these things when they hit our shores."

The use of IPv6 networks has been gradually rising in recent years as the number of IPv4 addresses has dwindled.

This shift has been gaining momentum since the beginning of the year, when the Internet Society confirmed 6 June as World IPv6 Launch Day.

The manufacturing industry has been one of the protocol's fastest adopters, as the demand for IPv6 enabled devices has grown, claimed Parkes.

"The Chinese are already building cars and components that are IPv6 ready. If European manufacturers don't follow suit they know, once the world wakes up, they're going to be left behind and the Chinese car makers are going to take market share," explained Parkes.

The switch to IPv6 could also create application compatibility issues, which could also leave firms on the back foot, he warned.

"How are firms going to feel if SAP or Oracle develop a new module in their product suites that gives you lots of extra functionality, but you can only use it if it you have v6? They need to ask themselves, would that be a major limitation?"