Mr Erkki Liikanen Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society "Towards the next Generation Internet" Inauguration of the Global IPv6 Services for the Scientific Community Brussels, 15th January 2004

 

After welcoming everyone attended the speech, Erkki Liikanen proceeded in describing how “information and communication technologies (ICT) are revolutionising the functioning of the economy and society”. He continued by noting how radical changes will occur with Information Communication Technologies’ development, along with “a wide range and long lasting impact not only on the economy, but also on every aspect of people's lives”.

On the other hand, he suggested that ICT development will not only have a great impact on the economy, but they will also involve the creation of wealth, the generation of new business opportunities, the sharing of knowledge and bringing communities much closer together and enriching their lives.

It has been estimated that by 2050 the population rates will increase enormously, thus IPv4 will be replaced in order to gain the possibilities for these people as well as for us to be able to have an Internet access. Accordingly, this estimate will exceed the nine billion people.

In addition, Erkki Liikanen suggests that “the launching of the European IPv6 Task Force in 2001 was also an important milestone. The Task Force includes representatives from research networks, Internet Service Providers, telecom operators, mobile operators and equipment supply industries”.

Further Information

                http://europa.eu.int