Comcast Preps Commercial Trials for IPv6

Comcast Corp. plans to extend IPv6 service to commercial customers beginning in May. In an initial trial targeting Philadelphia, Denver, and Silicon Valley, Comcast will offer IPv6-enabled cable modem service aimed at the small office/home office segment next month. The operator will then expand to new regions and begin offering IPv6-enabled Metro Ethernet services later in the year. Commercial deployment details will be posted at http://www.comcast6.net. To date, Comcast has rolled out IPv6 support across half of its network, scooping up residential customers in the process. The service provider will begin deploying commercial services in the same regions as it continues to upgrade the rest of its network. All residential customers are expected to have access to broadband service supporting IPv6 before 2014. Even though only a small percentage of customers is using IPv6 currently, the rate of traffic growth accelerated 11 months ago when both Netflix Inc. and Facebook enabled support on their sites. YouTube Inc. is another big contributor to IPv6 activity. (See YouTube, Netflix Dominate IPv6 Traffic.) Consumer electronics providers, meanwhile, are moving more slowly in the transition away from IPv4. This could create some difficulty as consumers start to encounter more IPv6 addresses. (See CE Laggards Could Hinder Cable's IPv6 Transition.) — Mari Silbey, Special to Light Reading Cable