06/03/14 sry
Five Fort Hays State University seniors created a reference document to help speed up the process for switching Internet protocols due to a looming address shortage.

Each device that uses Internet is given a numeric address and with the widely used Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), these address are running out. The switch to version 6 (IPv6), which has a significantly larger amount of IP addresses, has been gradual over the past 10 years.

"Since the document is assisting the ISPs, the transition of global Internet to IPv6 could be accelerated. This is most important to business customers who understand that having connectivity to the right resources drives revenues," said the five seniors calling themselves Concentric Communications in support of their project, Salah Alnughaythir, Saudi Arabia. Pedro Bustillos, Liberal. Joshua Finn, Agra. and Chase Killer, Wickenburg, Ariz. The students working on this project were all part of FHSU's INT 490 Capstone class.

Concentric Connections worked on the document with Eric Helm, a former adjunct professor at FHSU who is now with Yellow Dog Networks, a Kansas City. Mo. corporation "focused on helping customers position their IT infrastructure to maximize business goals." The document is a reference architecture that Yellow Dog Networks could use when approached by their clients who have considered becoming IPv6 ready. It assists Internet Service Providers (ISP) in making networks IPv6 compatible.

For individuals accessing the internet form home and mobile devices, the global shortage of IPv4 addresses means a couple of things, said the team's documentation. First, if addresses are exhausted and no end-game strategy is devised, then future devices would not be able to connect to the internet. Second, if applications or services that require IPv6 capabilities are created, users on the IPv4 networks will not be able to access them without some type of transition technology. Some newer devices today already come IPv6 compatible with the transition technology installed.

Internet connection can be tested for IPv6 connectivity at http://test-ipv6.com.

Previous estimates projected the complete exhaustion of IP addresses by the end of 2013, but estimates now place the exhaustion for late 2014 to early 2015.

The Concentric Communications team is made up of five Information Networking and Telecommunications seniors.

For more information about Concentric Communications call 928-671-1260 or contact the FHSU Informatics Department at 785-628-5373.