6UK shuts down as lack of government support leaves it "powerless to encourage adoption”
6UK, the not-for-profit organisation that was setup to help encourage UK ISP uptake of the IPv6 internet addressing standard ,has announced that it has closed all operations due to lack of government funding.
6UK was established with a £20,000 seed fund from the government's Department for Business Innovation and Skills and gained support from related organisations such as Easynet, AAISP, Redstone, Timico, Fluidata, LINX and Ja.net.
It aimed to encourage the adoption of a new internet addressing standard, IPv6, after Europe and the UK began to run out of new IPv4 addresses, the unique IP address assigned to your computer each time you go online, in September 2012.
In a statement the company said: "The 6UK board has determined that the organisation cannot fulfil its purpose and therefore the directors, all volunteers, resigned at today’s AGM without seeking re-election. In the absence of nominations to the board, 6UK is to be wound up in accordance with its articles of association.
"Many factors impact the uptake of IPv6 and clearly free-market incentives are insufficient. Yet at a country level, delayed adoption significantly impacts national competitiveness, innovation and skills deleteriously. It may also hobble UK based companies facility to compete internationally.
"From observing global IPv6 adoption patterns in recent times, one factor appears to dominate IPv6 adoption rates, namely government support. Countries with hands-off governments fall behind."