Nokia upgrades GPRS network

Nokia has modified its latest general packet radio service network to be compliant with the IPv6 standard, to cope with the global need for more Internet Protocol addresses.

Nokia has modified its latest general packet radio service (GPRS) network to be compliant with the IPv6 standard, to cope with the global need for more Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

The Internet Engineering Task Force has created IPv6, which provides far more IP address capabilities than that of version four. Corporate networks, which currently rely on IPv4, are already facing problems with lack of addresses.

"The shortage in addresses is a major problem in the US. Globally, we are running out of IPv4 addresses," said Asko Rasanen, head of the IPv6 business programme at Nokia.

When IPv4 was put together for the US military, only 4.2 billion addresses were prepared, which was considered more than enough. In reality, allocation efficiency probably means that saturation occurs at closer to around 2.5 to three billion. IPv6's 128-bit address format supports close to 340,232.4 quadrillion IP addresses - enough to award one to every grain of sand on earth.

Rasanen is confident that IPv6 will be able to cope with future demand for some time. "Even if all the light switches in the world were IP-enabled, it would still take at least 40 years to use up all these addresses," he said.

Nokia has signed a major deal with AT&T Wireless to supply GPRS networks for the US, which will support both GSM and wideband code division multiple access, the most common mobile network standard in the US.