Grantee	India Internet Engineering Society (IIESoc)
Project Title	IPv6 Knowledge Transfer (Webinars)
Amount Awarded	USD 30,574.83
Dates covered by this report:	2021-12-22 to 2022-12-22
Economies where project was implemented	India
Project leader name	Dhruv Dhody
Partner organization	IIESoc works collaboratively with a nonprofit industry consortium in the United States, Industry Network Technology Council (INTC), to address the issue of IPv6 adoption at large brick-and-mortar enterprises. IIESoc also works with a University in India, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, towards developing technical content and process for IPv6 deployments in Universities.

Project Summary

"Enterprise IPv6 adoption has lagged. One of the issues is that enterprise technicians don't understand the technical aspects of IPv6. The technicians want to get trained yet the management does not feel that they want to pay for such training because they do not see a business need for adoption. This creates an unfortunate cycle where misinformation about the complexity of the IPv6 protocol and unreasonable fears about security and manageability combined with the perceived lack of urgent business needs, prevents adoption of IPv6. This past year, India Internet Engineering Society (IIESoc), in collaboration with Industry Network Technology Council (INTC), provided technical training on many of the advanced features of IPv6 and Internet of Things (IoT) (since it relies heavily on the usage of IPv6). We have accumulated approximately 563 enterprise technicians from many countries including outsourcing companies, ""brick-and-mortar"" enterprises, small independent software companies and universities who have attended one or more of our webinars. Besides, IIESoc signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal (NITK Surathkal) in India to assist their team in the deployment of IPv6. These efforts led to the NITK Surathkal team submitting a project proposal for IPv6 deployment grants to ISIF Asia, and subsequently getting funding approval for their effort to deploy IPv6. IIESoc collaborated with several other organizations in the past one year: (1) Internet Society Hyderabad Chapter (2) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Madras Section, (3) Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Madras Chapter, (4) Computer Society of India (CSI) to discuss the need, motivation and challenges related to the IPv6 deployment, (5) National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NIT Rourkela), India and (6) Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT) to help them with IPv6 deployment in their university campuses."

Table of Contents

• Background and Justification
• Project Implementation Narrative
• Project Review and Assessment
• Gender Equity and Inclusion
• Project Management
• Project Sustainability
• Project Communication
• Project Recommendations and Use of Findings

Background and Justification

Thanks to the 2020 grant from ISIF Asia, this project extends a successful webinar series aimed at empowering enterprises with essential and advanced IPv6 skills. The webinars have proven invaluable in fostering the development of IPv6 expertise among businesses and universities, and this project builds upon that momentum to further support the adoption of IPv6 in these sectors. 

IPv6, in combination with HTTP/2 and Transport Layer Security (TLS), serves as a fundamental component for the development of new protocols by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Notably, IPv6 is indispensable for many of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives, exemplifying its significance as a building block for cutting-edge protocols. 

Enterprise adoption of IPv6, particularly for internal networks, has been lacking, especially in enterprises that have headquarters in the United States. In contrast, countries in Asia with large, technically-savvy populations and a scarcity of IPv4 addresses have been rapidly embracing IPv6. However, the slow adoption of IPv6 by US enterprises is impeding global penetration, as many of their subsidiaries in Asia remain IPv4-only. 

One major challenge to enterprise IPv6 adoption is the lack of understanding among technicians about how IPv6 works. Although technicians express a need for training, management often resists investing in such training due to a perceived lack of business justification for IPv6 adoption. This creates a detrimental cycle where misinformation about the complexity of IPv6 and unfounded concerns about security and manageability further hinder its adoption, as the perceived lack of urgent business needs stifles investment in necessary training and resources. Overcoming these challenges and addressing misconceptions is critical to promoting wider adoption of IPv6 in the enterprise sector.

Corporations, with a fiduciary duty to their stockholders, understandably prioritize the adoption of new technologies and architectures, including IPv6, when it directly contributes to their revenue. As a result, legacy protocols persist, and technical debt accumulates over time. If the technical community fails to assist enterprises in addressing these challenges, we risk a divided world where IPv4 continues to dominate internal enterprise networks. This is concerning, as these networks serve as the critical backbone for global governmental and financial systems, and cannot be overlooked. It is imperative that we proactively work towards resolving this issue to ensure the smooth transition to IPv6 and prevent the potential negative consequences of persistent reliance on outdated protocols. 

Similar concerns have been observed in universities. Despite a growing demand for training from technicians, university management may be hesitant to invest in IPv6 training programs, citing a lack of justification to migrate to IPv6. Although migrating to IPv6 might not be on the list of universities’ top priorities, being IPv6-ready can be immensely beneficial and lead to technological advancements. It can directly impact the Research & Development budget of the university. For example, one of the review criteria in the Campus Cyberinfrastructure - Infrastructure, Innovation, and Engineering (CC*IIE) Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) was that the proposals seeking funding through CC*IIE should describe the plan for campus IPv6 deployment. Along the same lines, the Government of India is enthusiastically supporting the adoption of IPv6, such initiatives are likely to be introduced as driving factors for IPv6 deployment in universities. Being IPv6-ready provides a competitive advantage in obtaining research partnerships with international universities/enterprises. Funding for R&D and partnerships are key parameters in national and international university ranking frameworks (for example, National Institute Ranking Framework by the Ministry of Education, Government of India). Hence, the consequences of not being IPv6-ready can be more severe than universities might anticipate. Numerous efforts have been made to address these concerns, with some organizations offering free training and certifications as part of the solution.  

In our own endeavors, we are glad to share some statistics on our progress in this area:   

• Total registrations: 563   
• Total registrations from the APNIC region: 230   
• Unique countries: 60   
• Unique countries within the APNIC region: 11   
• Unique organizations: 271   
• Total registrants from nonprofit organizations: 59   
• Total registrants from academic institutions: 114   
• Total registrants from military organizations: 30   
• Total registrants from government entities: 78   

Furthermore, our presentations have been downloaded or viewed on YouTube by many more, with approximately 500 views for the introductory session alone. These numbers reflect the growing interest and engagement from various stakeholders in addressing the issue of IPv6 adoption and highlight the importance of collaborative efforts to promote its wider adoption across different sectors. 

Our approach to promoting IPv6 adoption has been successful thus far, and we attribute our achievements to the following key differences:   

• Consideration of complex network environments: We understand the challenges faced by large, end-user organizations and academic institutions with multi-tier, multi-platform networks that may involve various components such as firewall clusters, zones of control, load balancers, proxies, hybrid cloud, and numerous applications. Our training addresses these complexities to provide a comprehensive understanding of architecting and troubleshooting IPv6 networks.   
• Detailed technical training: Our focus is on providing in-depth technical training that enables participants to gain a deep understanding of IPv6 network architecture and troubleshooting. For example, we go beyond basic concepts and offer dedicated sessions, including labs, on specific topics such as IPv6 neighbor discovery and IPv6 in Internet of Things. Our experienced speakers bring real-world expertise in architecting and diagnosing problems in large enterprise networks, allowing us to tailor our presentations to the specific needs of our audience.   
• Motivation to support critical networks: We are motivated by the recognition that large enterprises form the backbone of global financial and governmental systems, and their adoption of IPv6 is crucial for the success of the Internet. We believe that the Internet is a force for good and wish to support its continued success by promoting IPv6 adoption among these key stakeholders.   
• Support for the Asia/Pacific region: The Asia/Pacific region, facing relative scarcity of IPv4 addresses, is expected to be a leader in IPv6 conversion out of necessity. We are committed to supporting this change and facilitating IPv6 adoption in the region to address the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the evolving Internet landscape.   

In conclusion, our organization is committed to providing specialized and comprehensive training to large enterprises and academic institutions, taking into account their complex network environments and technical requirements, to promote the adoption of IPv6. We are motivated by the critical role of these organizations in global networks and wish to support the positive impact of the Internet, particularly in the Asia/Pacific region where IPv6 adoption is of utmost importance.

Project Implementation Narrative

As mentioned before, IPv6 adoption has lagged in enterprises and universities. One of the issues is that technicians do not understand the technical aspects of IPv6. They want to get trained, yet the management does not feel that they want to pay for such training because they do not see a need for adoption. This creates an unfortunate cycle where misinformation about the complexity of the IPv6 protocol and unreasonable fears about security and manageability combine with the perceived lack of urgent needs to prevent adoption of IPv6.  

IIESoc, in collaboration with INTC, and with the generous funding support from ISIF Asia in 2021, started addressing this issue by organizing free webinars on IPv6. These webinars were structured such that a theoretical concept of IPv6 was followed by a corresponding lab session, wherein the presenters demonstrated the IPv6 concept hands-on. We had over 300 registrations from individuals in the APNIC region for our training classes. These came from over 150 unique organizations, including academia, industry, and government. Many more downloaded the presentations or watched the recordings on YouTube. 

The main objectives of this multi-year effort by India Internet Engineering Society (IIESoc) team is:  

• Raising implementation priority of IPv6 at enterprises 
• Demystification of IPv6 for enterprise technicians 
• Technical training for IPv6 for senior enterprise technicians 
• Sharing IPv6 case studies and deployment efforts (some as a direct result of our project) 
• Assisting with deployment efforts as needed  

In this second phase of funding (the grant received from ISIF Asia for the year 2022), this past year, India Internet Engineering Society (IIESoc), in collaboration with Industry Network Technology Council (INTC) provided technical training on many of the advanced features of IPv6 and Internet of Things (since it relies heavily on the usage of IPv6). We have accumulated approximately 563 enterprise technicians from many countries including outsourcing companies, "brick-and-mortar" enterprises, small independent software companies and universities who have attended one or more of our webinars.

• This webpage summarizes the webinars organized in the past one year.

In addition, IIESoc signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal (NITK Surathkal) in India to assist their team in the deployment of IPv6. These efforts led to the NITK Surathkal team submitting a project proposal for IPv6 deployment grants to ISIF Asia, and subsequently getting funding approval for their effort to deploy IPv6.

IIESoc collaborated with several other organizations in the past one year:

1. Internet Society Hyderabad Chapter
2. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Madras Section
3. Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Madras Chapter
4. Computer Society of India (CSI) to discuss the need, motivation and challenges related to the IPv6 deployment
5. National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NIT Rourkela), India
6. Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT) to help them with IPv6 deployment in their university campuses.

Apart from organizing the webinars on IPv6 migration for enterprises and universities, we have focused on providing hands-on experience to our participants. It appears that word-of-mouth is spreading about our classes, and we are pleased to excel in the following areas of our implementation:   

• Providing a platform for IPv6 discussions with global experts   
• Delivering training that meets the level of detail needed for a comprehensive understanding of IPv6   
• Making recordings of our sessions available for those who are unable to attend the live sessions   
• Interfacing with SDOs, such as IETF, to facilitate protocol changes to IPv6 that may be needed to address enterprise deployment issues   

However, the APNIC region spans across multiple time zones, and our core team is located in India and the United States. Finding a suitable time for all attendees can be challenging due to these time zone differences. Nevertheless, we understand that the material we cover is complex, and even knowledgeable participants may need to review the recordings to fully absorb the content and understand the structure. 
Many participants request recordings of the sessions so they can revisit the content and clarify any missed or misunderstood points. We have received emails from motivated registrants in countries where the live attendance time is not convenient, expressing eagerness to access the recordings. Our trainers and core team also make ourselves available for questions via email, and we receive inquiries from individuals seeking to discuss various issues related to IPv6 deployment. 

This time zone challenge is not unique to our organization, as it is also experienced by the IETF. We are actively discussing potential improvements, and have set up a group email for IPv6 subject matter experts, which may prove to be useful as organizations continue to adopt IPv6 deployment.

Project Review and Assessment

We have over 563 registrations from individuals for our training classes. These come from over 271 unique organizations, including academia, industry, and government. Many more have downloaded the presentations or watched the recordings on YouTube (1300+ views). 

Here are the registration statistics of our participants by continent: 

• Asia: 224 
• North America: 214 
• Europe: 40 
• Africa: 39 
• South America: 25 
• Middle East: 14 
• Oceania: 6 

A list of organizations by countries that participated from the APNIC region follows: 

• Australia: APNIC Foundation 
• Australia: Palo Alto Networks 
• Australia: Wachtel Consulting 
• Bangladesh: Aamra Technologies Limited 
• Bangladesh: IEEE 
• Bangladesh: Quanta Systems 
• Bangladesh: Youth Movement Against Poverty 
• China: Huawei 
• China: Morgan Stanley 
• India: Accuknox 
• India: Annasaheb Dange College of Engineering & Technology (ADCET) 
• India: BMS Institute of Technology and Management 
• India: Altiostar [Rakuten Symphony] 
• India: Arista Networks 
• India: Arrcus Software 
• India: Bharat Institute of Technology 
• India: Bharat IPv6 Forum 
• India: Bharathiar University 
• India: Capgemini 
• India: National Institute of Technology Tiruchirapalli 
• India: Central University of Himachal Pradesh 
• India: Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC) 
• India: Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT) 
• India: Christ University Bangalore 
• India: Ciena 
• India: Cisco 
• India: Citrix 
• India: Cloud Native Computing Foundation 
• India: Criterion Network Labs (CNLABS) 
• India: Continental Automotive Components (India) Private Ltd. 
• India: Counterpoint Technology Market Research 
• India: CUTS International 
• India: Department of Homoeopathy, Government of Kerala 
• India: Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) 
• India: Encora 
• India: Ensono 
• India: Er Perumal Manimekalai College of Engineering 
• India: Ericsson 
• India: ERNET India 
• India: Esto Internet 
• India: Exclusive Networks Sales India Pvt Ltd 
• India: Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM), Bengaluru 
• India: Happiest Minds Technologies 
• India: Hewlett Packard Enterprise 
• India: India Internet Engineering Society (IIESoC) 
• India: Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IITKGP) 
• India: IND Innovation Private Limited 
• India: Indian Institute of Information Technology Surat 
• India: Indian Institute of Science 
• India: Indian School of Business 
• India: Inmanta 
• India: Intel 
• India: IP Infusion 
• India: ISOC India Hyderabad Chapter 
• India: Jagan Institute of Management Studies 
• India: Juniper Networks 
• India: Karpagam Institute of Technology 
• India: KITS Enterprises 
• India: Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering 
• India: Margo Networks 
• India: Mavenir 
• India: Microsoft 
• India: Mist 
• India: Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT) 
• India: Mukand Infotel Private Limited 
• India: National Forensic Sciences University 
• India: National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal 
• India: NavankurIT 
• India: National Informatics Centre (NIC) 
• India: Nitte Mahalinga Adyanthaya Memorial Institute of Technology (NMAM) 
• India: Nokia 
• India: Nokia Bell Labs 
• India: Oracle 
• India: Oriental Institute of Science and Technology 
• India: PayPal 
• India: PES University 
• India: RedHat 
• India: Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited 
• India: RtBrick India Private Limited 
• India: Sastra University 
• India: Sense Connect 
• India: Shreshta IT Technologies Private Limited 
• India: Smarten Spaces 
• India: Sree Saraswathi Thyagaraja College 
• India: Stellapps 
• India: SugarBox Networks 
• India: Tamil Nadu Agricultural University 
• India: Tata Communication Limited 
• India: Tata Consultancy Services 
• India: Tektelic communications 
• India: Tulip Telecom 
• India: Universal Software 
• India: Vaagdevi Engineering college 
• India: Vmware 
• India: Wellsfargo 
• India: Zoho Corporation 
• Malaysia: Malaysia University of Science and Technology 
• Malaysia: NLTVC Education Sdn Bhd 
• Nepal: Himalayan Online Service Private Limited (HONS) 
• Nepal: ISMT College 
• Pakistan: Pakistan Educational Research Network (PERN) 
• Pakistan: TribeBits 
• Papua New Guinea: Seeto Kui (Holdings) Limited 
• Philippines: Central Luzon State University (CLSU) 
• Philippines: Conduent 
• Philippines: Globe Telecom 
• Philippines: Nu Skin 
• Philippines: Paloc Alpha Networks 
• Sri Lanka: Swamy Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies, Eastern University, Sri Lanka 
• Sri Lanka: University of Jaffna 
• Sri Lanka: University of Vavuniya 
• Sri Lanka: Winsys Networks 
• Tonga: Tonga Communications Corporation Limited (TCC) 

This list does not include people who watched the YouTube channel. We do not require registration for that thus do not track it.  But, hundreds of people have viewed the recordings. Feedback to date indicates that even more people and organizations watch the YouTube recordings than attend the live webinars.

The following organizations reached out to us for one-to-one collaborations and guidance towards IPv6 adoption:   

• Internet Society, Hyderabad Chapter, India   
• ACM Chennai Chapter, India   
• IEEE Mangalore Subsection, India   
• IEEE Madras Section, India   
• National Forensics Science University (NFSU), Delhi, India   
• National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India   
• Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT), India   
• IIESoc signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal (NITK Surathkal) in India to assist their team in the deployment of IPv6. These efforts led to the NITK Surathkal team submitting a project proposal for IPv6 deployment grants to ISIF Asia, and subsequently getting funding approval for their effort to deploy IPv6. The project team from IIESoc actively participated in APNIC conferences.
• Dhruv Dhody attended the APNIC 54 Conference in-person at Singapore and participated as a Speaker.
• Ameya Despande participated remotely and spoke about his work on IPv6 Performance and Diagnostic Metrics (PDM) Destination Option, which is also an Internet Draft in the IPPM WG at the IETF.
• Dhruv was also part of APNIC and APRICOT program committees. 

The collaboration of IIESoc with NITK Surathkal strengthened further in this phase of the project. One Ph.D. student (Vishal Rathod) actively helped IIESoc in completing some of the activities of this project. A number of Bachelor's students from NITK Surathkal (Ameya Despande, Anirudh Achal, Balajinaidu V, Sudesh Gowda J, Kavya Bhat, Advaith Curpod, Amogh Umesh, Chinmaya Sharma, Ananth Acharya) have started learning about IPv6 as well as Extension Header testing.

These efforts have culminated into two new Internet Drafts by IIESoc and INTC that are being actively discussed in the v6ops working group at IETF:   

• Deep Dive into IPv6 Extension Header Testing
• Deep Dive into IPv6 Extension Header Testing: Standalone Client / Server  

The project management skills of Dhruv Dhody and Nalini Elkins have been crucial in keeping our team cohesive and focused. We had regular meetings with a clear agenda, and everyone knew their responsibilities. Their expertise in IPv6 deployment, coupled with their organizational skills, helped us frame the right questions and create effective lab demos. Their leadership has been instrumental in keeping the team on track and ensuring the successful implementation of our project.

Gender Equity and Inclusion

Throughout the implementation of this project, we have maintained a strong commitment to gender equality and inclusion, with a track record of promoting diversity and inclusivity among our team members.   
The project lead is from the queer community. This project is co-led by Nalini Elkins. We have 2 women as part of the core team that meets weekly – Praneet Kaur (President, IIESoc) and Priyanka Sinha (Member of the Board, IIESoc). They have been an integral part of the core team. Thus, we have good representations from all genders in our project team (reaching gender equity).

Women can find encouragement and inspiration in the fact that there are several female leaders involved in technical and project roles within our project. We acknowledge that many women may feel hesitant to participate in the tech world, particularly in complex areas, due to concerns about being the only woman in the room. However, our project is committed to being open and inclusive.

Through our inclusive approach, women can witness that we foster a collaborative and supportive environment, where gender diversity is valued, and everyone, regardless of gender, works towards technical excellence together.   

Apart from the project team, Shwetha Bhandari has been lending her IPv6 expertise in various aspects such as setting up IPv6 Lab.  IIESoc has two women as board members and one as an advisory member. The partner organization INTC has three women as board members.    

Like many technical initiatives, we acknowledge that we still have progress to make in achieving equal participation in our webinars and labs. This reflects the broader industry imbalance, especially within the enterprise tech sector, and underscores the need for continued efforts towards fostering diversity and inclusivity.    

We aspire to set a positive example and demonstrate strong leadership in the implementation of our projects, with the aim of inspiring increased participation from others.

Project Management

Some of the challenges faced by our organization during this project are listed below:   

• APNIC region spans across multiple time zones, and our core team is located in India and the United States. Finding a suitable time for all attendees was challenging due to these time zone differences. Nevertheless, we understand that the material we cover is complex, and even knowledgeable participants may need to review the recordings to fully absorb the content and understand the structure. This time zone challenge is not unique to our organization, as it is also experienced by the IETF. We are actively discussing potential improvements, and have set up a group email for IPv6 subject matter experts, which may prove to be useful as organizations continue to adopt IPv6 deployment.   
• Making payments via foreign transactions was a struggle, something that we faced in the previous grant cycle as well.   
• We are not able to track the participation on YouTube and get a count of individual attendees. However, this is obvious because our material has been made openly available for all. We would like to keep it this way even for future projects.   

On a positive note, the following are our observations in terms of capacity building and project management:   

• This project has strengthened the board with new members (Priyanka Sinha, who is one of the core members of the project, has joined the IIESoc board). Quite a few new Ph.D. and Bachelors students, in particular from NITK Surathkal, have become a part of the core group.   
• We have implemented improved tracking of registrations and attendees, along with generating summary reports and breakouts that provide insights on attendee demographics, including organization and country information. This allows us to have a better understanding of the composition of our participants and their representation across different organizations and countries

Project Sustainability

Thanks to the successful implementation of this project, NITK Surathkal was able to participate in the IPv6 deployment grants of ISIF Asia and secure the grants. As a technical partner, IIESoc has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NITK Surathkal to foster future collaborations on IPv6 deployment endeavors. Additionally, the project team from NITK Surathkal has generously offered to provide travel support for the members of IIESoc to visit the NITK Surathkal campus and provide guidance on the progress of IPv6 deployment on campus. This partnership exemplifies the collaborative efforts and mutual support between the two organizations towards advancing IPv6 deployment initiatives.

Project Communication

We employed a diverse range of communication techniques to effectively engage with our target audience, which includes enterprises, universities, government agencies, and individuals interested in IPv6 deployment. These techniques were carefully chosen for their wide reach and ability to maintain continuous engagement. Our communication strategies included:   

• Email communication: We utilized email communication as a key strategy to reach out to potential attendees, leveraging the substantial email lists of both IIESoc and INTC based on past events. Regular reminders were sent prior to each class/lab, ensuring continuous engagement and communication with the attendees.   
• Social Media: We leveraged IIESoc's presence on Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook, as well as a WhatsApp group, to share regular updates and engage with the audience.   
• Mailing Lists: We shared updates on IETF India, INNOG, SANOG, and APNIC-talk mailing lists to reach a wider audience and keep them informed.   
• University Coordinators: We appointed university coordinators who played a crucial role in evangelizing our efforts with university partners and connecting us with universities.   
• Partnerships: We sought help from ISOC, VSIG, APNIC, and other partnerships to expand our reach and engage with a larger audience.   
• Word of Mouth: We witnessed substantial word-of-mouth recommendations, where our emails were forwarded across organizations, encouraging more people to attend our sessions.   
• Surveys: We conducted surveys of enterprises and universities to gain insights into their IPv6 deployment journey, helping us better understand their needs and challenges.   
• Direct Email for Queries: We received queries and requests for help from various regions, and our team responded promptly, providing opportunities for frank discussions outside of the formal class/lab structure.   
• Open Discussion on IPv6 Deployment: We set up monthly Zoom calls for individuals with IPv6 deployment questions to attend and connect with like-minded individuals, facilitating knowledge sharing and experience exchange.   
• Recordings and Slides: We made recordings and slides of our classes and labs readily available on our website and through emails, allowing those who couldn't attend live to access the content offline.   

These communication techniques were instrumental in reaching our target audience, creating engagement, and fostering a collaborative learning environment for IPv6 deployment. We faced challenges in planning the timing for our sessions. While we optimized for the Indian region with a preference for weekday late evening (after work), we encountered difficulties in accommodating the timing preferences of other regions, particularly the Asia Pacific region, due to the presence of our presenters in the US and the participation from the American region. This is an area we can improve upon in the future. 

Furthermore, we aim to reach the real game-changers in the enterprise and campus networks who can have a significant influence within their organizations as they embark on their IPv6 journey. This is a key focus for us moving forward. 

Despite these challenges, our multi-pronged communication strategy proved to be effective, resulting in a high number of registrations. We recommend replicating a similar communication strategy in future efforts to continue building on our success and engaging with our target audience effectively

Project Recommendations and Use of Findings

Recommendations   

The inclusion of hands-on lab sessions alongside classes provides invaluable benefits for participants. These practical, interactive sessions allowed participants to actively engage with the subject matter and gain firsthand experience in applying the concepts and techniques learned in the webinars. Offering YouTube recordings and slides (or presentation materials) after each session proves to be valuable. These resources provide participants with an opportunity to review the content covered during the session at their own pace and convenience. The YouTube recordings capture the entire session, including the instructor's explanations, demonstrations, and any Q&A discussions, allowing participants to revisit the material and reinforce their understanding. This is particularly helpful for participants who may have missed a session or want to review specific topics for better retention.  

• Diverse communication tactics for maximum outreach.   
• The ability for free form discussion on emails, other calls, outside of classes   
• Working with more universities as a case study for IPv6 deployment   
• Subject matter experts who could answer real-world IPv6 deployment issues   
• Building an IPv6 community, linking experts and beginners   
• IPv6 deployment has taught us that this is a very long process and patience is key, the results will take time   
• Recommendations to ISIF Asia Secretariat   
• Touch base more often to make sure everyone is in sync   
• Informed decision-making   

This is a long process, and we must commit to this long-term. We need to make sure we continue with this work over many years and refine our vision and outputs.   

Initially, we thought the government organizations and enterprises would be key targets; but realized universities are a fertile ground to deploy IPv6. They can also be a perfect partner for the further development of deployment-template, guidelines, and deeper research in this area.   
This information is useful for any organizations working towards IPv6 training and deployment – APNIC Foundation, INTC, IIESoc, ARIN, RIPE, Internet Society, etc could further share best practices and collaborate more in the future.

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