OECD Digital Economy Papers
The OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) undertakes a wide range of activities to better understand how information and communication technologies (ICTs) contribute to sustainable economic growth and social well-being. The OECD Digital Economy Papers series covers a broad range of ICT-related issues and makes selected studies available to a wider readership. They include policy reports, which are officially declassified by an OECD Committee, and occasional working papers, which are meant to share early knowledge.
- ISSN: 20716826 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/20716826
The Economics of Transition to Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6)
This report makes the case that IPv6 represents an example of a platform; within the context of IPv6, the sides of the platform are Internet service providers, backbone providers, device manufacturers, content providers, and so forth. The net benefits to adopting the new platform are not distributed equally across sides. For some participants, such as backbone and transit providers and manufacturers of devices such as routers, the transition to IPv6 has been relatively swift. For these participants the benefits of adoption were clear, and adoption demonstrated the technical ability of the company and fitness of its network. For others, such as many content providers for the Web, enterprises contemplating deployment of IPv6 within internal firm networks, and providers of consumer electronics equipment such as DVD or Blu-Ray players or televisions, the transition has been slower. For them the benefits have not been as clear, and many legacy devices, networks, customers and suppliers have not transitioned.