Today, June 8th, is World IPv6 Day. What does that mean exactly? Well, the internet is running out of IPv4 addresses and today, some companies around the world are testing out their sites using IPv6, a networking protocol that aims to replace IPv4 in the coming years. So, today is the day to raise awareness of IPv6. It’s NOT a transition day – the transition will take years to accomplish – it IS a time to evaluate your IPv6-readiness on your sites, applications, hardware, software or anything that uses IP addressing protocols.

IPv4 Networking Protocol

IPv4 is a networking address space that most of us should be familiar with. It is a numeric, 32-bit only, and takes the form of XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX (so like 192.168.100.000). There is a physical limitation to the number of IPv4 addresses you can have, 2^32 or 4,294,967,296 to be exact, and we are running out pretty quickly. Every website has an IP address bound to it. We, as consumers, are used to typing in domain names (like www.GoGrid.com). But what happens is that the domain name is translated into an IPv4 address (like 216.93.160.144). Think of IP addresses like an “internet phone number”. Nowadays, we click on a name (e.g., a domain name) to call someone. In the past, we dialed a phone number (e.g., an IP address).

Remember, not all of those combinations can be used as some are reserved:

(table source: Wikipedia)

When you think about it, Cloud Computing is burning through IP addresses pretty quickly. For example, every GoGrid customer is allocated a block of IPv4 addresses to use with their infrastructure. That’s a lot of IP addresses that we are giving away. And, as more and more sites or infrastructures are created, more IPv4 addresses are being consumed. Since there is a finite amount of these addresses, companies need to start thinking about transitioning over to the new IPv6 protocol.

Also, cell phones & other public internet-enabled devices are consuming these limited IPv4 addresses (even if using DHCP – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol – where IP addresses are applied for a specific time duration and then released back to a pool). So, as society becomes even more internet-enabled, this pool of IPv4 availability dries up even more quickly.

Do you get the point? When you think about it, running out of IPv4 addresses is really the sign of growth and the internet is expanding. This is a good thing.

IPv6 Networking Protocol

IPv6 builds for tomorrow’s growth and beyond.  Instead of being limited to numeric addresses only, IPv6 is 128-bit and is alpha-numeric. IPv6 takes the form of:

(image source: Wikipedia)

Using “simple” math, that means that theoretically you can have 2^128 addresses or 340 undecillion (3.4 x 10^38) addresses. Let’s take a look at that number:

• 2^128
• 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456
• 340 undecillion, 282 decillion, 366 nonillion, 920 octillion, 938 septillion, 463 sextillion, 463 quintillion, 374 quadrillion, 607 trillion, 431 billion, 768 million, 211 thousand and 456
• 340 billion billion billion billion
• 340 trillion trillion trillion

Uh…that’s a LOT of numbers!

Let’s put it another way:

• a 70 kg body, has approximately 7×10^27 atoms in it (7 and 27 zeros)
• there are 6.79 billion people in the world (2009 estimate)
• that means there are 4.753*10^37 atoms in all of the people of the world
• which means that there are 7.16 IPv6 addresses available for every atom of living people in the world

I don’t think that we will be running out of IPv6 addresses in our lifetimes!

GoGrid and IPv6

GoGrid helped with World IPv6 day. We enabled IPv6 networking within Compuware’s IPv6 Website Performance Testing Page, a GoGrid customer, where you can determine how IPv4 and IPv6-enabled websites compare in terms of site performance. GoGrid is currently executing a comprehensive IPv6 roadmap, and the Compuware development project represents a technology preview that demonstrates a complete rollout of IPv6 within GoGrid’s infrastructure.

Engineering teams from both GoGrid and Compuware collaborated to design and implement a custom solution within GoGrid’s infrastructure to allow Compuware to enable the first ever Gomez IPv6 Website performance test.

Today we issued a Press Release about our work with Gomez & Compuware related to World IPv6 Day.

Be sure that if you have an IPv6-enabled site that you run the Compuware/Gomez Performance test to see how your sites perform.

What You Can Do Now

Again, the goal of World IPv6 Day is to raise the awareness of the depletion of IPv4 addresses and to nudge companies along in their efforts to begin utilizing the new IPv6 protocols. It’s essentially a “test flight” for major web companies and other industry players to come together by enabling IPv6 on their main websites for 24 hours. If you remember the days of Y2K, this can be likened to a similar effort. No, the Internet won’t crash or stop working if you aren’t IPv6 ready today, but in order to save costs and effort in the future, companies should definitely start their long term plans and preparations of this inevitability. GoGrid, for example, expects to have IPv6 compatibility by the end of 2011.

So, take a deep breath, stop worrying about all of those IPv6 digits and what they mean, and start driving ahead in your planning for enabling IPv6 within your software, devices and infrastructure.

Some pretty big things are happening at GoGrid. Today we announced the release of our Image Rights Management (IRM) service for GoGrid Partners, a very powerful technology that assists with the software and licensing management in the cloud, specifically within the GoGrid Exchange. As many of you may know, GoGrid Exchange is a catalogue of software server images and solutions from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) that are available on-demand for those who use GoGrid cloud infrastructure. IRM adds several benefits for ISVs and, in turn, customers.

To better explain IRM technology and why it is so important, I sat down with Raja Srinivasan, VP of Cloud Computing at Zeus Technologies, and our very own Paul Lancaster, Manager of Cloud Ecosystems at GoGrid. They discuss how IRM is the solution to licensing software in the cloud and what the GoGrid Exchange means for partners and customers.

Raja and Paul highlight many of the benefits of the GoGrid Exchange as well as focus on our new IRM technology. They break them down into two main areas.

Benefits for Partners:

• License Management – IRM technology automatically verifies if the software is correctly licensed to run within the GoGrid cloud, and will automatically take pre-defined actions should the licensing be invalid.
• Software Management – Simply update your software on the GoGrid Exchange and it is automatically made available to your customers.
• Easier to Deliver Support – When a customer has a support need, the ISV can quickly understand exactly what kind of infrastructure the software is running on so they can identify the support issue faster.
• Easy Payments – GoGrid handles the invoicing of customers for both Partner Image licensing and infrastructure usage, and then pays the Partner for the Partner Service Image usage.

Benefits for GoGrid Customers:

• Single-Button Install – Customers can find the software solution they want on exchange.gogrid.com and instantly install it with little to no configuration.
• Software Management – Users are automatically kept up to date with the latest versions of the software they installed from the Exchange.
• Unified Invoicing – GoGrid handles the billing for Exchange Partner server images as well as infrastructure costs within a single invoice. Customers can manage their software and infrastructure payments from a single portal on a single bill.
• Flexibility & Scalability – the GoGrid Exchange allows customers to get the software they want when they want it. Also, customers aren’t locked into any multi-year licensing deals. The Exchange makes software solutions in the cloud highly efficient and ready to scale with your company.

We’re very excited about the release of IRM what this means for our customers and the cloud computing industry.

For more information, please read our Press Release titled “GoGrid Enhances Partner Exchange Platform with New Image Rights Management Technology” which is available in the Press Release section of the GoGrid site.

For more information, please visit http://exchange.gogrid.com

As part of our continuing global expansion, today GoGrid announced a new partnership with Digital Realty Trust (DRT) and their 365 Main property in San Francisco.

The Press Release is available online as well as below:

GoGrid Continues Expansion with New West Coast Data Center

Accelerated Customer Demand fuels new facility at Digital Realty Trust’s 365 Main Street Facility in Downtown San Francisco

San Francisco, CA – February 28, 2011 – GoGrid, a leading cloud infrastructure provider, today announced its third data center expansion in six months with the extension of its platform into Digital Realty Trust’s 365 Main Street property. GoGrid is occupying a significant amount of data center space in 365 Main Street, which is adjacent to GoGrid’s headquarters. The new facility allows GoGrid to meet increasing demand for GoGrid infrastructure cloud solutions and also serves as a vehicle to offer new Cloud Computing services and management tools. The agreement between GoGrid and DRT includes the building of a new, direct and private fiber conduit linking GoGrid’s infrastructure in the two adjacent buildings.

“We’re pleased to be working with GoGrid on this important expansion of its data center infrastructure,” said Joe Goldsmith, Vice President of Sales at Digital Realty Trust. “While the supply of quality data center space is very limited in downtown San Francisco, 365 Main Street offers highly flexible space to support data center expansions for companies like GoGrid that are growing rapidly. We look forward to being a long-term data center partner of GoGrid.”

GoGrid will utilize 365 Main Street’s infrastructure that includes raised floor space, security, cooling, network, power, fire suppression and other state-of-the-art features. The new data center space in 365 Main Street provides GoGrid an increased data center footprint and close proximity to GoGrid’s corporate headquarters and primary San Francisco data center which in turn allows corporate customers to receive new and enhanced infrastructure services within the GoGrid technology network.

“With triple-digit growth from GoGrid cloud services the additional data center capacity provided by Digital Realty Trust will allow GoGrid to meet our customers’ needs head on — ensuring that we remain ahead of our skyrocketing growth curve,” said Mark Worsey, Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Technology at GoGrid. “The 365 Main Street data center provides us with an ideal location to expand our presence as part of our global rollout.”

GoGrid currently operates a data center in San Francisco, CA. In February 2011, GoGrid announced the opening of a European data center and in June 2010, GoGrid announced expansion into an Equinix, Inc. data center located in Ashburn, VA.

About Digital Realty Trust, Inc.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. enables customers to deliver critical business applications by providing secure, reliable and cost effective data center facilities. Digital Realty Trust’s customers include domestic and international companies across multiple industry verticals ranging from information technology and Internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services. Digital Realty Trust’s 96 properties, excluding two properties held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures, comprise approximately 16.8 million square feet as of December 9, 2010, including 2.3 million square feet of space held for redevelopment. Digital Realty Trust’s portfolio is located in 28 markets throughout Europe, North America and Singapore. For additional information, please visit Digital Realty Trust’s website at http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com.

About GoGrid

Thousands of leading IT experts choose and rely on GoGrid’s Cloud infrastructure services. GoGrid enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control cloud environments and complex virtual and physical server networks with full administrative control. GoGrid’s industry standard specifications and robust service offerings are powering thousands of businesses globally to achieve previously unrealized efficiencies. Deploying a GoGrid infrastructure solution using a Standard or Partner Server Image, free hardware F5 load balancing, Cloud Storage, private VLANs and much more takes minutes via a web interface, API, or iPhone application. GoGrid provides users the control and advanced capabilities of a data center environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud. www.GoGrid.com

As always, please be sure to check our announcements page for other details coming from GoGrid.

GoGrid continues to push forward with our plan to expand world-wide. This week, we announced plans to open a data center within Europe, thus providing our Cloud Infrastructure services closer to corporations and enterprises who require a presence in Europe.

The Press Release is available online as well as below:

GoGrid Continues Global Expansion With New European Data Center

Leading Cloud Provider to Deliver Integrated Cloud Infrastructure Services Globally

San Francisco, Calif., February 3, 2011 – GoGrid, a leading cloud infrastructure provider, today announced plans to open a new data center facility in Europe in the summer of 2011. The expansion represents a significant step in the company’s global expansion strategy to accommodate growing demand for cloud computing outside of the U.S.  GoGrid’s regional presence will provide IT professionals, developers and organizations with fully integrated, on-demand infrastructure services available across the globe.

GoGrid has uniquely architected its cloud technology for seamless deployment around the globe with unlimited scalability.  GoGrid leverages a common architecture footprint that ensures functionality and performance consistency in any region or data center. When launched in Europe, GoGrid will deliver a feature-complete solution via a single management portal. Customers can create, manage and deploy robust cloud solutions in any of GoGrid’s various data centers all within GoGrid’s web-based portal or programmatically via an Application Programming Interface (API).

“As we continue aggressively pursuing our global expansion efforts as a result of our tremendous growth in 2010, we remain committed to providing the easiest and most robust cloud infrastructure services to our customers around the world,” said John Keagy, founder and chief executive officer of GoGrid. “GoGrid’s cloud operating stack was designed and built from the ground up for this expansion.  Unlike some other leading cloud providers that require multiple log-ins for each location, we deliver a seamless experience for managing global infrastructure through a single ‘pane of glass’”.

In a recent global study conducted by Gartner Research*, key findings indicate that “adoption of cloud computing is underway in all European regions surveyed and will accelerate during the next 18 months.” By establishing a presence in Europe, GoGrid will provide regional customers with one of the industry’s most reliable cloud infrastructure services backed by the most comprehensive 100% guaranteed service level agreement of cloud infrastructure providers. In addition to its upcoming European location, GoGrid also maintains existing data centers in San Francisco, Calif., and Ashburn, VA and also plans to expand to Asia in Q4 of 2011.

*Gartner, December 15, 2010: “Survey Analysis: European Adoption of Cloud Computing, Patterns and Preferences”

About GoGrid
Thousands of leading IT experts choose and rely on GoGrid’s Cloud infrastructure services. GoGrid enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control cloud environments and complex virtual and physical server networks with full administrative control. GoGrid’s industry standard specifications and robust service offerings are powering thousands of businesses globally to achieve previously unrealized efficiencies. Deploying a GoGrid infrastructure solution using a Standard or Partner Server Image, free hardware F5 load balancing, Cloud Storage, private VLANs and much more takes minutes via a web interface, API, or iPhone application. GoGrid provides users the control and advanced capabilities of a data center environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud. www.GoGrid.com

Please look for more announcements regarding our global expansion in the coming months.

As part of its global expansion roadmap, GoGrid today announced that NTT America will be providing increased capacity and bandwidth to GoGrid customer to meet increased customer demand. NTT is among several GoGrid bandwidth providers including: Above Net and Level 3. The NTT relationship will help bolster capacity for various overseas markets including Asia and Australia.

The full Press Release is below:

NTT America Enables GoGrid to Meet Customer Growth Demands via NTT Communications Tier-1 Global IP Network

NTT Com network facilitates growth for GoGrid’s Cloud Computing product suite

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO – January 25, 2011 – NTT America, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) and a Tier-1 global IP network services provider, and GoGrid, a leading cloud infrastructure provider, today announced that NTT America has enabled GoGrid to continually meet customer demands for increased bandwidth and capacity via NTT Communications Tier-1 Global IP Network.

As GoGrid’s international customer base grew, the company turned to NTT Com’s Tier-1 IP backbone service to support increased bandwidth demands across the board. As a Tier-1 provider, NTT Com provides private peering and seamless service from a single global ASN (ASN2914) over NTT Communications Global IP Network, directly connecting telecoms, ISPs, content providers, CDNs and enterprises at the highest performance levels available.

“Over the last year, GoGrid’s international customer base has grown substantially and NTT America has enabled our global cloud platform to increase broadband capabilities and in turn provide new growth opportunities,” said Bobby Brown, vice president of operations and support for GoGrid. “Overall, NTT Communications Global IP Network, with one of the best international footprints in the industry, was by far the best choice for us to grow with. The network provides faster routes to international markets – specifically Asia – as well as excellent customer service and unrivaled uptime.”

GoGrid’s complete cloud infrastructure service solution enables its customers to easily deploy robust, customized cloud infrastructures, leveraging the multifaceted features and services that make up the GoGrid cloud. Users worldwide can create and manage complex cloud and hybrid environments utilizing a variety of appliances including cloud servers, on-demand dedicated servers, F5 hardware-based load balancers and cloud storage.

As demand grows for content and services available via the Internet, NTT America supports its customers by shaping IP transit bandwidth delivered over both Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) and the next generation Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6). The company provides flexible and fast dedicated access to the global Internet, the most aggressive Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in the industry and more than 1 Tbps of peering capacity globally.

“NTT Com operates one of the largest transpacific networks available on the market today, and our capacity is always growing. In fact, we surpassed 400 Gbps in Q4 2010 – an industry high,” said Shuichi Ikeda, vice president, sales and business development for NTT America’s Global IP Network business unit. “Because of this, our customers are able to provide better services and a true competitive advantage to their customers. We look forward to working with GoGrid into the future to continue to help them meet customer demand.”

NTT America directly connects customers – including telecommunications companies, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), content providers, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and enterprises – to major markets around the world via NTT Com’s Tier-1 IP Backbone Network and Point of Presence (PoP) locations in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific.

For more information on the NTT Com Global IP Network, visit http://www.us.ntt.net/about/ipmap.cfm.

About NTT America
NTT America is North America’s natural gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, with strong capabilities in the U.S. market. NTT America is the U.S. subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation, the global data and IP services arm of a Fortune Global 500 telecom leader: Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation (NTT). NTT America provides world-class Enterprise Hosting, managed network, and IP networking services for enterprise customers and service providers worldwide. For additional information on NTT America, visit us on the Web at www.us.ntt.com.

U.S. product information regarding the NTT Communications Global IP Network and its award winning IPv6 transit services may be found at http://www.us.ntt.net/, by calling 877-8NTT-NET (868-8638), or by emailing sales@us.ntt.net.  Join us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NTTAmerica, follow NTT America on Twitter at @NTT_America or LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/companies/ntt-america for up-to-date news and announcements.

About NTT Communications Corporation
NTT Communications provides a broad range of global networks, management solutions and IT services to customers worldwide.  The company is renowned for reliable, high-quality security, hosting, voice, data and IP services, as well as expertise in managed networks and leadership in IPv6 transit technology.  NTT Communications’ extensive infrastructure includes Arcstar Global IP-VPN and Global e-VLAN, as well as a Tier 1 IP backbone reaching more than 150 countries in partnership with major Internet service providers, and secure data centers in Asia, North America and Europe.  NTT Communications is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one of the world’s largest telecoms with listings on the Tokyo, London and New York stock exchanges.  Please visit www.ntt.com/index-e.html.

About GoGrid
Thousands of leading IT experts choose and rely on GoGrid’s Cloud infrastructure services. GoGrid’s award winning technology enables sysadmins, developers, and IT professionals to create, deploy, and control cloud environments and complex virtual and physical server networks with full administrative control. GoGrid’s industry standard specifications and robust service offerings are powering thousands of businesses globally to achieve previously unrealized efficiencies. Deploying a GoGrid infrastructure solution using a Standard or Partner Server Image, free hardware F5 load balancing, Cloud Storage, private VLANs and much more takes minutes via a web interface, API, or iPhone application. GoGrid provides users the control and advanced capabilities of a data center environment with the flexibility and immediate scalability of the cloud.  For more information, please visit: http://www.GoGrid.com.

For other recent Press Releases, please visit our Press Releases section of the GoGrid site. Also, we have had a lot of Media Coverage recently which is all captured under the Press Coverage section of the site.