Fremont, California - October 27, 2010 - Hurricane Electric, the world’s leading IPv6-native Internet backbone and colocation provider, today announced that it is the first network in the world to connect to over 1,000 IPv6 networks, almost doubling its IPv6 network size for two consecutive years.

With the recent directive from the White House requiring all federal agencies to be IPV6 compliant to last week’s announcement from The Number Resource Organization (NRO) that less than five percent of IPv4 addresses remain, more and more enterprises are realizing the urgency of transitioning to IPv6 as well as the additional benefits of IPv6.

The majority of Internet traffic today is composed of IPv4 transmissions, but the IPv4 protocol’s 32-bit address will soon be overwhelmed by the rapidly growing number of Internet-connected devices.

In order to avoid projected address-space depletion by 2011, IPv4 systems must be transitioned to the newer IPv6 protocol, which has a vastly larger address space. In addition to providing distinct, globally- routable addresses for all devices connected to the Internet, the IPv6 protocol also mandates network- layer security and simplifies certain network configuration tasks.

“Hurricane Electric’s IPv6 growth continues to position us as the network most able to provide enterprises throughout the world with the best native IPv6 connectivity,” said Martin Levy, Hurricane Electric’s Director of IPv6 Strategy. “Since announcing the doubling of our IPv6 network almost one year ago, Hurricane Electric has continued to strategically position its footprint throughout the world.”

In addition to operating the world’s largest IPv6 network, Hurricane Electric has been at the forefront of educating network operators, CIOs and C-Level executives on the benefits of IPv6 and how to implement the next generation Internet protocol. Most recently, Hurricane Electric launched an IPv6 YouTube channel that provides weekly updates on the state of IPv6 and tools that network administrators can use for a smooth transition.

In addition to the IPv6 YouTube Channel, Hurricane Electric’s popular free IPv6 certification, Tunnel Broker and Free DNS Service allows network engineers, system administrators, and software developers to gain expertise in IPv6. Last month Hurricane Electric announced that its suite of free tools have over 113,000 combined users in 171 countries. In addition, Hurricane Electric has certified over 1,500 IPv6 Sages, the highest level of certification.

For those looking to keep track of IPv4 depletion in real-time, Hurricane Electric offers an IPv4 depletion App for the iPhone.

Hurricane Electric first deployed IPv6 on its global backbone in 2001. Hurricane Electric offers IPv4 and IPv6 transit solutions over the same connection, at speeds up to 10 Gbps. Within its own global network, the company has 45 major exchange points with connectivity to more than 1,500 different networks. Employing resilient fiber-optic topology, Hurricane Electric has no less than four redundant paths crossing North America, two separate paths between the U.S. and Europe, and rings in Europe and Asia.

IPv6 at Hurricane Electric is a core service and every customer is provided IPv6 connectivity as well as classic IPv4 connectivity.

About Hurricane Electric
Hurricane Electric is a leading Internet Backbone and colocation Provider. Hurricane Electric operates its own global IPv4 and IPv6 network and owns several data centers in Fremont, California, running multiple N-by-10 Gbps links throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Founded by Mike Leber in his garage in 1994, Hurricane Electric now operates the largest IPv6 Internet Backbone in the world as measured by the number of networks connected. For additional information on Hurricane Electric, please visit http://www.he.net.