[TriLUG] Adding to the list of topics: IPv6

[Jon Carnes]

On Wed, 2004-01-21 at 14:52, William Sutton wrote:
> PMBIB,
> 
> Just why do we want things like toaster, refrigerators, and toilets to 
> have their own IP addresses?  Why, for that matter, do we want digital 
> cameras and pdas to have their own addresses?  Workstations, servers, 
> printers, and networking gear I can understand, but appliances?
> 
> William

This is a good question, and I hope my answer is equally as good...

First of all there are some items that most folks really want on the
internet - Mobile phones are a great example. Mapping systems in cars
are another example.

And then there are appliances like say a Heating/Airconditioning
system....  I see a time in the future when your HVAC system alerts you
to a systems failure and checks to see if it's under warranty (and with
who) then logs in to a dispatch center for remote diagnoses and
scheduling of a repair roll.  You even pay a maintenance fee just so
that all this happens in the background while you are at work; by the
time you get home, everything is back up and running again.

You buy a TV from Best Buy, and you actually pay that hoky Maintenance
Fee, and with that you get remote diagnosis of any problems on your set,
and the local TV schedules downloaded to your TV every week.  You even
get remote upgrades via the net, like picture within a picture or V-chip
type filtering.  While you are at work you can monitor what your
children are watching on TV - you can even change the channel and then
lock it remotely (or simply turn it off and lock it with a pass code).

Your Refrigerator will come with a bar code reader and will connect up
to your favorite grocery chain (Lowes Food).  When you run out of milk,
you'll push the request button and then scan the old milk carton in
(before tossing it in the recycle bin).  Your Trilug buddies are coming
over on Thursday, you'll want to stock up on that beer that Jim likes,
so you login to the Refrigerator and scroll through the past inventory
picking out that special beer and a few other things to be added to your
order.  On your way home from work the next day, you drop by your
favorite food store and everything is already bagged up and waiting for
you.

Your camera has a nice built in buffer and it can store up to a 100
large shots, and when it gets a nice signal for internet access it logs
in remotely to your PC and dumps those shots in the buffer out to your
harddrive.  You never load film, and you don't mess with wire hook-ups
to your home-based PC or your walk-about tablet. You just take pictures
and enjoy them.
The photo frame on your desk logs into your PC remotely and draws from
the new pictures and displays them one at a time for ten seconds each.
Your wifes photo frame picks up the same pictures and she scrolls
through them with a few taps and then sends four of them off to
Grandma's photo frame device.

None of these things is from the future. They exist now, but they need
the infrastructure and security that comes with IPv6 in order to
function properly.

Jon Carnes