CES 2012 - Did IPv6 not get the invite?

Posted by Stephane Bourque on January 13, 2012

It was my first time at CES, which as an electronics lover, I'm ashamed to admit. I have been missing out all this time.

CES made me realize how big the "Electronics Industry" actually is. Everything from car stereos, home electronics, 3D technology, batteries, phones, tablets to robots were on display.

Along with 140,000 other enthusiasts, I had to filter through all of it to find out what's in, what's out, and what's coming up. CES might be too big for its own good as the hot items were lost in all the noise.

On the other hand, I could easily find every type of iPhone case ever created.

For my inner geek, my favorite technology was the 3D printers. Yes, that's right. A printer that allows you to create your own 3D models by building layers of nylon or ABS plastic. No need for lasers anymore. Not to mention, they're affordable too. I was very tempted to get one just for fun.

The show still has some issues to fix. For one, Microsoft stated it will no longer attend and Apple was noticeably absent.

Now, what about IPv6?

In one word: disappointing.

Many people in the field have been talking about IPv6 and it's starting to make a difference on strategy and deployment, but most of the manufacturers at CES are still in the dark. They were unaware if their products even supported IPv6 and didn't know if there were any plans to move towards it.

I was happy to see ARIN at the show - one of the few who were up to date. I spent some time with the reps discussing IPv6 and industry readiness. They said that several providers had stopped by and were interested about it too.

We are looking forward to having one of ARIN's engineers give the State of the Union address on IPv6 at our user conference in June.

Though disappointing on the IPv6 front, CES was, all in all, tons of fun. I'll definitely go back to see what's new next year. See you there in 2013!