[Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 7 November 2012] — The fourth annual Itojun Service Awards were presented today to John Jason Brzozowski for his tireless efforts in providing IPv6 connectivity to cable broadband users across North America and evangelizing the importance of IPv6 deployment globally, and to Donn Lee and Paul Saab for their efforts in making high-profile online content available over IPv6 and for their key contributions to World IPv6 Day and World IPv6 Launch. The awardees were recognized at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) 85 meeting this week in Atlanta, Georgia.
First awarded in 2009, the Itojun Service Award honors the memory of Dr. Jun-ichiro “Itojun” Hagino, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 37. The award, established by the friends of Itojun and administered by the Internet Society, recognizes and commemorates the extraordinary dedication exercised by Itojun over the course of IPv6 development. IPv6, the next-generation Internet protocol developed within the IETF, provides more than 340 trillion, trillion, trillion addresses, enabling billions of people and a huge range of devices to connect with one another, and helping ensure the Internet continues its current growth rate indefinitely.
“The combined work of John, Donn and Paul has made IPv6 a technology used every day by people around the world as they access some of the most popular websites from their homes and offices,” said Jun Murai of the Itojun Service Award committee and founder of the WIDE Project. “On behalf of the Itojun Service Award committee, I am extremely pleased to present this award to them for their ongoing efforts that have made IPv6 a mainstream technology for global web companies looking to ensure their continued growth.”
The Itojun Service Award is focused on pragmatic contributions to developing and deploying IPv6 in the spirit of serving the Internet. The award includes a presentation crystal, a US$3,000 honorarium, and a travel grant.
John Jason Brzozowski said, “It is truly humbling to be a recipient of the Itojun Service Award, being recognized with others that have worked tirelessly to make IPv6 a reality is rewarding personally and professionally. I would like to thank the award committee and the Internet Society as well as my family and co-workers for their support. As many are aware, the IPv6 journey at Comcast has been unfolding since 2005. It is an honor and pleasure to provide the technical and strategic leadership for IPv6 that has led to the success of our program and the widespread adoption of IPv6.”
Donn Lee said, “Deploying IPv6 continues to be an amazing experience. I’m thankful to be sharing this award with my colleagues Paul and John, whom I have worked alongside through the challenging and exciting milestones of World IPv6 Day 2011 and World IPv6 Launch 2012. I especially want to thank the Itojun Service Award committee for this honor that remembers Itojun, a truly inspirational IPv6 scientist, leader, and visionary.”
Paul Saab said, “I’m honoured to be sharing the Itojun Service Award with Donn and John. We should never forget that we would not be here today if it were not for Itojun’s trailblazing work and passion for IPv6. To be recognized is extremely humbling, as Facebook’s participation could not have been done without our amazing co-workers and their own hard work to bring IPv6 to our users. Thank you for recognizing us and remember that this journey is only 2% complete.”
Each Internet-connected device uses an Internet Protocol (IP) address and, with the number of Internet-connected devices growing rapidly, the supply of unallocated IPv4 addresses is expected to be exhausted worldwide within the next year. The regional Internet registries APNIC and RIPE, charged with allocating IP addresses in the Asia-Pacific region and European region respectively, have announced they have reached their last blocks of IPv4 addresses available for allocation. To help ensure the continued rapid growth of the Internet, IPv6 provides a huge increase in the number of available addresses. And, while the technical foundations of IPv6 are well established, significant work remains to expand the deployment and use of IPv6.
IPv6 was developed within the IETF, the Internet’s premier standards-making body responsible for the development of protocols used in IP-based networks. IETF participants represent an international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers involved in the technical operation of the Internet and the continuing evolution of Internet architecture. More information on the Itojun Service Award is available at:
About IPv6
All devices that connect to the Internet need an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Currently, the majority of the Internet uses IP version 4 (IPv4) addresses. IPv6 is the next generation address standard, offering a far greater pool of public addresses than IPv4. IPv6 has been available for use since 1999, but as the end of the available pool of IPv4 addresses approaches, the need for more understanding, awareness, and deployment of IPv6 has become more important.
About the Internet Engineering Task Force
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the Internet’s premier technical standards body. It gathers a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. For more information, see: http://www.ietf.org
About the Internet Society
The Internet Society is the world’s trusted independent source of leadership for Internet policy, technology standards, and future development. Based on its principled vision and substantial technological foundation, the Internet Society works with its members and Chapters around the world to promote the continued evolution and growth of the open Internet through dialog among companies, governments, and other organizations around the world. For more information, see: http://www.internetsociety.org