The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is one of the main issues addressed this week at RIPE 57 in Dubai – hosted by Etisalat. This is the first meeting for the RIPE NCC (Network Coordination Centre) in Dubai.

“We knew for more than 10 years that we would run out of addresses,” said Axel Pawlik, the managing director of the RIPE Network Coordination Centre (NCC). “But the reach of the internet has grown much faster than a lot of people expected, so now it is more important to find solutions.”

Meanwhile, .ae (ccTLD for United Arab Emirates) is likely to become the first ccTLD in the world to introduce internationalised domain names in the third quarter of 2009 Mohammad Al Zarouni, chief technology officer at the .ae Domain Administration of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) told Gulf News. He added that the UAE “will very likely be the first country” worldwide where a complete non-English domain name would be available.

For media coverage the above report was based on, see:

• www.gulfnews.com/business/Technology/10254469.html
• www.thenational.ae/article/20081026/BUSINESS/128775564/-1/SPORT
• www.itp.net/news/535910-ripe-ncc-event-to-discuss-future-of-regional-internet