Global IPv6 Service Launch Event

Launch Ceremony

The official ceremony to launch the Global IPv6 Service, organised by GÉANT on behalf of the European Commission, was held at the end of the first day and was attended by Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Society. Commissioner Likkanen’s introductory speech served to open the ceremony and can be viewed via the link alongside. A number of short speeches by representatives from 8 of the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) taking part in this global initiative were also made.

Participants from the USA, Canada, Latin America, Japan, Korea, China, Russia and Europe were able to share their experiences of deploying IPv6 across their respective national networks, and were then presented with a gift as a token of appreciation for their efforts in helping to establish the first global IPv6 service. The ceremony was then brought to a close by the official inauguration of the global IPv6 service with a toast to the operational worldwide IPv6 connectivity service by Commissioner Liikanen.

The following NREN representatives participated in the ceremony:

John Boland, HEAnet, Ireland (compere/co-ordinator)
Doug van Houweling, Internet2, USA
Bill St Arnaud, CANARIE, Canada
Sandra Jaque, CLARA, Latin America
Prof Shoichiro Asano, NII, Japan
Dr. Ki-Shik Park, ETRI, Republic of Korea
Prof Jianping Wu, CERNET, China
Prof Yuri Izvhanov, INFORMIKA, Russian Federation
Dany Vandromme, GÉANT, Europe