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Linux takes on windows in the server operating space. PAGE 10

Which operating system is best for you?PAGE 20

YOUR KIDS WON’T HAVE INTERNET!Why you should care about the end of IPv4. PAGE 22

Is engineering a possible career path for you?PAGE 17

Fall issue 2012

Dear readers,We thank you for taking the time out of your day to read our magazine. It’s been a long time putting out this magazine, with many days of hard work and frustration at each other. But in the end we got it done.

When we first got together as a group we had absolutely no idea what we wanted to do, but when we thought of what we had in common and what we liked to do, one

idea came to mind. Technology.

Our entire magazine is centered around technology and we hope everyone, no matter who they are, will learn something new about technology in each issue of our magazine. The quality of the magazine may not be up to par with big magazines such as Time and National Geographic, but thats mostly due to the fact that we are a bunch of freshmen

sitting in a room all designing different magazine.

So again we thank you for your support and sympathize with your painstaking effort to get through our magazine.

- The RAM team

EDITOR’S NOTE

By the way Hunter really likes Hexagons

1.00 billion

0.75

0.50

0.25

When a user types

www.facebook.com, behind the scenes

that name is translated into a IP address

IN THE IPv4 ADDRESS SYSTEM THAT NUMBER IS

66.220.149.32

2620::1cfe:face:b00c:::3

One of the 4,294,967,296 possible addresses

One of the 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,474,607,431,768,211,456 possible addresses

IN THE IPv6 ADDRESS SYSTEM THAT NUMBER WOULD BE

Number of unassigned

IPv4 addresses remaining.

IPv6 - The Internet in Transition

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Cover Story

How Clean is Clean Energy?

Smallworks, a Personal Acount

WiNuCos

The Best Gaming Systems

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WritersHunter S. ThompsonHunter S. Thompson is a 9th grader at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. Whenever somebody needs tech help in school, he tries to find a way to fix it. Also he invented the Smallworks Brickcase, which is a case that allows you to put Lego on the back of your iPhone. In his spare time, he participates in the LASA robotics team and runs a minecraft server. You can contact him at Hunter@smallworks.com.

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Lindy ManzkeLindy Manzke is an introverted 9th grader at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy who dislikes interactions with people in the real world, but sometimes plays multiplayer computer games in his spare time. He is somewhat confused on how he ended up on a technology magazine, as he has no prior experience in the workings of computers, though he hopes to get some. He hopes to someday become a computer programmer like his father, and has taken several computer-related classes in middle and high school. You can contact him at Lindy.12345@hotmail.com.

Jaden WilliamsJaden Williams loves anything that involves technology really, he has been “obsessed” with games and other things like computers. His family have seen him try to work on and fix things like watches and other things that work only because of technology so much that now they think of him as a “tech wizz.” They always go to him when they want something fixed before they go to a professional, even though he tells

them that he isn’t as good as they think. If you want to see him he participates in Alley Cat Players productions like phantom of the Opera, January, 2013 in the LBJ theater, keep an eye out for it! Have any questions? You can contact him at jaden_williams@yahoo.com.

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We’ve all heard of clean energy, ways to produce power without producing polution, but I’m sure you’ve asked the question “What about the cost of the building and sustaining clean energy power plants, and what about the land they take up?” Thinking to answer the same question, I’ve done some research on the subject. What follows is an evaluation of varying clean energy technology based on the cost to operate the station, cost to build the plant, and land use of the plant.

From six billion dollars up to nine billion dollars

Can be 75 million dollars Can be about 276.5 million dollars

Can be about 1.2 billion dollars

Can be about 2.2 billion dollars

About six billion dollars a year

Can be less than 2.5 million dollars a year

Can be less than 9.2 million dollars

Hire some window cleaners

Can be about 663.4 million dollars

Can be about 60 square kilometers

Can be about ten thousand square meters

None (plants are located within dams)

Can be about three square kilometers

230 square kilometers

BY: Lindy Manzke

Sources:US Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation website“Andasol Solar Power Station, Spain.” Power- Technology.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.power-technology.com/projects/andasolsolarpower/>.“Buying and Maintaining Solar Panels.” Sierra Club Green. Sierra Club Green, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.sierraclubgreenhome.com/solar-center/buying-and-maintaining-a-solar-electric-syste/>.“How Much Do Wind Turbines Cost?” Windustry. Windustry, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.windustry.org/resources/how-much-do-wind-turbines-cost>.“How Much Electricity Does a Typical Nuclear Power Plant Generate?” EIA. US Energy Information Administration, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=104>.Knews. “Hydroelectric Project Price Questionable.” Kaieteur News Online. Kaieteur News, 9 May 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.“Operating Costs of a Nuclear Power Plant.” Nuclear Fissionary. N.p., 15 Mar. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://nuclearfissionary.com/2010/03/15/operating-costs-of-a-nuclear-power-plant/>.“Solar Panels - Lifetime Productivity and Maintenance Costs.” Boston Solar Energy Blog. The Boston Solar Company, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://bostonsolar.us/boston-solar-energy-blog/bid/68011/Solar-panels-lifetime-productivity-and-maintenance-costs>.“Turbine.” Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/609552/turbine/45675/Cost-of-hydroelectric-power>.

Your Ad Here

If you are interested in adveritsing in RAM’s non-exsitant next issue, contact us at Lindy.12345@hotmail.com. Rates start at -e^(pi *i) dollars per square decameter of advertising.

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LINUX:RISE OF

A GIANT

Image found on pc-freak.net

n January of 2003, the SQL Slammer worm hit the Austin Energy network by exploiting a vulnerability in Windows. “I suggested that we diversify servers, and run Linux on half of them, and Windows on the other, so that any sort of Linux worm would only hit

the Linux ones, and any sort of Windows worm would only hit the Windows ones, and I immediately got told off. At the time we used almost no Linux,” said Kevin Manzke, former Austin Energy employee, “now everything except email and file and print servers runs Linux.”

Since its creation in 2001 Linux has risen to become the leading server operating system, according to diffen.com, a website that allows you to compare anything, 60% of servers run Linux, another 3.9% run similar variants of Unix, and the remaining 36.1% run Windows (see below for graphical representation). Diffen.com also reveals that Unix (the predecessor of Linux) was originally designed as a multi-user operating system, causing it to be far more stable and secure than Windows, which was originally designed as a single-user operating system, and didn’t have security features because it wasn’t supposed to be connected to a network. Linux is cheaper to run and support than Windows, because, as reported by The Economist, Linux runs on cheaper units than Windows and Unix do, and because Linux itself is free to use.

According to Daniel McDonald, IT project manager at Austin Energy, there was plenty of opposition to using Linux, “It was thought by management that having a commercial operating system afforded some level of protection from liability, so that if things went seriously wrong you could always sue the OS company. In practice this has not turned out to be the case,” McDonald said.

Linux’s open-source nature is somewhat of a double edged sword. While it allows anyone and everyone

I

Graph made by: Lindy Manzke using NCES Create a GraphUnix runs on 63.9% of servers, 60% of servers run Linux specifically, only 36.1% of servers run windows.

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to create their own versions and contribute to the core Linux Kernel, permitting developers everywhere to monitor and patch it whenever necessary, this ability of any person to contribute their own Linux systems and applications has resulted in the rise of many different versions, none of which are quite the same, which in turn has led to a splintering of the operating system. “Even within the Linux world we see some of the same ossification that made Windows an inappropriate platform,” said McDonald, adding his fear that due to the continued splintering of Distros, “At some point Linus [the creator of Linux] will retire and the Kernel will be a mess for a long time.” However, all these different versions have

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“Linux missed an opportunity when it did not get into the cell phone and tablet space”made Linux very adaptable. “Linux provides freedom (Free as in speech, not free as in beer). I can rapidly customize Linux applications to do the job I want rather than trying to fit my workflow into the tools provided by a proprietary OS,” McDonald Said.

McDonald pointed to Linux’s open-source nature as the cause of companies’ hesitation to embrace it, but this is the very reason that many countries, not wanting their fate tied to a certain company, have chosen to use Linux on their national computer systems.

Linux is not a death sentence for Windows, “As Microsoft has become aware of security principles the platform has become somewhat more robust. I would expect to continue to deploy some mission-critical applications on Windows,” McDonald said. Microsoft is working to reduce the number of times one has to reboot Windows, and Linux isn’t a

danger to Windows in the consumer market. “The operating systems that are challenging Windows today on the client side are the tablet operating systems like Andriod and IOS. Linux missed an opportunity when it did not get into the cell phone and tablet space,” said Ed Stuart, LAN/WAN Integrator at Austin Energy.

One thing’s certain, diffen.com’s users have reported less than 100 viruses for Linux, none of which are currently active, compared to the over 60,000 viruses for Windows.

By: Lindy Manzke

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Smallworks,a Personal AccountI’ve been a LEGO fan all my life. I

have more buckets of LEGO lying around my house than my parents

have computers, and my parents have a lot of computers.

In July 2010, I attended the National Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia. At the time, I lived in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since I was 12 years old, and would be over 6,000 miles away from home for three wee\s, my parents gave me one of their old iPhones. When I returned in August, my mother asked me if I liked the phone. My response was, “Well this phone is cool, but it would be even cooler if I could put LEGOs on the back of it.” I didn’t know it at the time, but I had just launched a new company.

My parents employ an industrial designer named Frazier Newlin. When we got home from the airport, my father called Frazier and told him about my idea. They were already working on an idea for a Livestrong-themed case for the recently-introduced iPhone 4, but they thought my idea was better, and we immediately started working on a LEGO-compatible iPhone 4 case instead.

When we started working on the case, we knew that it had to fit LEGO studs. LEGO-enthusiasts refer to this fit as “clutch” or “holding power”. The clutch has to be just right, or the LEGO bricks will fall apart. The first approach was to carefully measure real LEGO with a set of digital calipers. These calipers are typically accurate to one thousandth of an inch, or

It was a disaster. The LEGO pieces wouldn’t fit, and would simply fall off. We hadn’t measured the diameter of the LEGO studs well enough, and we also noticed a problem where longer LEGO pieces would not fit, because the studs were slightly too far apart. We needed a better way to measure!

The solution we found was to use a laser scanner to measure LEGO bricks. A laser scanner measure the time it takes for a pulse of light to leave a laser, and then be detected by a sensor. Since the speed of light (c) is known, the round-trip time determines the distance traveled, which is twice the distance between the scanner and the surface. If t is the round-trip time, then the distance is equal to c x t/2. The accuracy of this process depends on the precision of measuring t, the time in flight. Light travels 1 mm in 3.3 trillionths of a second, or 3.3 picoseconds. We had to measure to one hundredth of a mm, or less than 33 quadrillionths of a second.

Fortunately, this worked. Real LEGO studs measure 4.88mm (0.1921”) plus or minus 0.01mm (0.00004”). A secret closely-guarded by the manufacturer of LEGO had been revealed. We also used the laser scanner to measure the iPhone, so the case would fit it more snuggly.

Fraizer used these new measurements to refine the CAD model. We also abandoned the idea for the case with LEGO studs on the sides, as it would be very difficult, if not impossible to manufacture. Once the CAD was

0.001”. We also carefully measured the distance between the studs on real LEGO bricks. We used these measurements, as well as measurements for the iPhone that Apple supplies, and developed a model in Solidworks, a computer-aided design (CAD) program. We developed several ideas, one had studs on the sides and top, another only had studs on the sides. Once we had two ideas that we liked, we sent the CAD file to a company in Atlanta, GA to make a prototype.

The prototype is made with a technology called stereo

lithography, or SLA. SLA is an additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) technology used for producing models, prototypes and patterns. SLA uses a vat of liquid ultraviolet curable polymer resin and an ultraviolet laser to build a part one layer at a time. For each layer, the laser beam traces a cross-section of the part on the surface of the liquid resin. Exposure to the UV laser cures and solidifies the pattern traced by the laser. After this, the SLA’s platform descends by the thickness of a single layer, typically 0.05mm or 0.002”, and the process is repeated. Once the parts were finished, they were sent to us.

“Well this phone is cool, but it would be even cooler if I could put LEGOs on the back of it.”

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complete, we ordered new SLAs, and determined that we had a design which would work. We also found that the studs looked wrong without the LEGO logo engraved on the top of each stud. Obviously we could not use the LEGO logo, since The LEGO Group has a trademark on the logo. We needed a different logo. Before I was born, my parents had a company named SmallWorks, so we decided to use the SmallWorks logo, which is a small gear, and to re-use the SmallWorks.COM domain for the website. Frazier used Solidworks to make these changes to the CAD model for the case, adding lettering for SmallWorks.com to the sides, and a copy of the gear on top of each stud. Frazier also developed an idea for the opening required for the camera and flash on the back of the iPhone 4.

Now we had a new problem. We knew the size we wanted for the dimensions on the case, but we wanted to use high-pressure plastic injection molding to make the real iPhone cases. We also wanted to use acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, or ABS plastic, since it is the material used to make LEGO bricks.

Adding to this problem is that ABS shrinks as it cools, so the dimensions in the mold would need to be larger than what we had measured for the final part.

Frazier and my father found a company in China to make the mold. The Chinese company recommended a stainless steel mold, because of the exceptionally smooth finish that was required in order to closely match the quality of LEGO bricks. We also found out that the mold would be quite complex. Most molds used in the injection-molding industry use a simple cavity, where there are just two sides, a front and back. The mold-making industry calls these the core and cavity. Sometimes, a slide is used, in order to make a part with sides that can be released from the mold when the mold is opened. Our mold would require four slides, one for each side, plus a top and bottom, and these would all have to fit to each other with high-precision, but be able to be opened and closed by the injection-molding press. The result of all of this machine work was a bill for $18,000, just for the mold.

In order to determine the final size of the mold, the mold-making industry uses a process called “steel safe”. Basically you make the mold slightly under-sized, then assemble the mold, mount it in the injection-molding press, and run about 50 cycles of the machine, making about 50 parts. The ‘fit’ of the part is tested, and the mold is unmounted from the press, disassembled and re-machined, gradually increasing the size of each critical feature, until the desired ‘fit’ of the part is obtained.

Each time this happened, the Chinese factory would use FedEx to overnight a few parts to us, we would measure them, and then call them back with the results. The process was painstaking. Even though it only takes 35 second to make a case in the injection-molding machine, each ‘turn’ of the entire process would take about a

week. It was mid-November by the time we finally got the studs to fit right. We sent an order for 16,000 cases in black, white and clear, and waited eagerly for them to arrive.

Picture taken by Jim ThompsonA picture of the mold for the Brickcase. The tubes are for coolant.

Picture taken by Jim ThompsonThe plastic goes in though this hole.

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Now that we had a product on the way, it was time to develop the website. We are not experienced web site designers, so the result while OK, did not look professional, but it was all we could get done.The cases arrived, and my father talked to his friend John Gruber. John’s blog “Daring Fireball” is one of the most popular blogs in the world of Apple fans. We sent him one of our cases, and his son LOVED it. John agreed to announce our product to the world.

On January 10, 2011, only five months after I expressed the idea to my parents, the SmallWorks BrickCase was announced to the world, and made available for sale on Amazon and Amazon UK.

One of our early customers is a professional web designer. He sent us an email, “Great product, but needs a better website.” We took him up on the offer and the website was redesigned. There was input from everybody. “It should look like Apple’s website.” my dad said, and this served as a starting point. We now have a professionally-developed website, and take orders on both

Amazon and on our own e-commerce site.

During the six months after we launched, other companies started to carry our case. Now our case is sold at places like Singapore, Japan, Canada, Poland, South Korea, thinkgeek.com, and some high-end vending machines in airports. We are also negotiating with several companies in New Zealand, Australia, and Germany. We are very close to a deal with Von Maur, basically a Macy’s or Dillard’s for the Northern part of the U.S.

In the two years since launch, we have developed a BrickCase for the iPod Touch, moved the injection-molding operation (and both molds) from China to a company

in Georgetown, Texas, and moved our home from Honolulu to Austin. We have also added several new colors: yellow, pink, lime green, dark green, blue, transparent pink and glow-in-the-dark. Each of these except the glow-in-the-dark and transparent pink are color-matched to the colors used in LEGO bricks. I personally approved the match of each color.

Picture taken by Jim ThompsonOne half of the mold. You can see the polish in the center piece.

In September of 2012, Apple started shipping the iPhone 5, and we started the design process for the new iPhone, and found a machine shop in Round Rock, Texas to build a new mold. In December of 2012, as I write this article, we are less than a week away from our initial order for production quantities of BrickCase for iPhone 5.

I’ve learned a lot in the past two years, and had a lot of fun. I’ve learned about the process of turning an idea into a product, and what it takes to market and sell that product. I’ve learned about dimensional tolerance, high-precision machining, subtle differences in color, and the injection-molding process. I am a named inventor on six patent applications. To date, we have manufactured over 85,000 BrickCases for iPhone 4 and iPod Touch. I hope the iPhone 5 BrickCase continues the trend.

But the best part, for me, is that I always have LEGO bricks at hand.

By Hunter S. Thompson

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Engineering in a Nutshell

re you thinking about becoming an engineer, but not sure if it’s really what you want to do? Or that you won’t be good at it? Or even really know what it is? Well here’s what it is and how to be good at it, you decide if it’s

something you really want to do. “The big picture is that engineering is all about problem solving,” said Ellen Wadsworth, a Civil engineer for the City of Austin’s Watershed Protection Department. “When it comes to engineering, your employer tells you what you need to end up with. Your job is to figure out how to get there,” said Kevin Cheney, an electrical engineer for Raven industries.Cheney loves being an engineer, But it did take a

lot of concentration on work and classes to get the job. Becoming an engineer requires a lot of work, Wadsworth said that it takes at least 4.5 years of experience which means two years of university-level mathematics, one year of university-level physics, and one year of university-level chemistry along with “statics, dynamics, materials science, solid mechanics, thermodynamics, and electric circuits/electronics,” which is only the basic criteria for students wishing to become an engineer, of any kind.The courses a student takes after the basic criteria

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are to further their knowledge on the specific type of engineer they want to be at that point. Once you know what type of engineer you want to be, you get your degree and start getting experience even if you want to go on to get a masters. When it comes to the point where

you have to decide what type

a lot of detail when you don’t like something.” If, like in Wadsworths’ case, you want to become a civil engineer, you’ll have to take several different courses in college that are “introductory courses” and you’ll know by which you found boring what type of engineer you want to be. No matter where you go or who you

ask about what it takes to become an engineer, they will all say the same thing, that you need to have a “proficiency in math” or at least like math. “You get better at math by repeating the same problems; the theories and understanding sort of sink into your brain over time,” Wadsworth said. Something elses that comes up a lot when asking what it takes to become an engineer is the ability to pay attention to detail, “if you’re working on a project and something’s not going the way you need it to, you need to know what happened to make it mess up and if it can be fixed so it doesn’t happen again.” Cheney said. When you actually become an

engineer you need to engineer something and an important part of engineering something is the process,

which for Cheney is “[buying] the materials I need, and pretty much just figuring how to put them together the way I want, which does take some time.” But for everyone the engineering process is “to use scientific information together with mathematics to create a solution to get done what you need to get done,” Wadsworth said. Although it does require some skill

in math, if you feel like you would like or excel at engineering, you can always work on your math skills and learn the different things, even if “you have to go over and over the solutions, working problems again and again,” as Wadsworth says.You should try seeing if engineering

is a job that you want to do, and if after reading this article is a job that you think you could do and would enjoy doing, and although “lot’s of college students pull all nighters to get stuff done,” Wadsworth says “don’t do it, you can’t remember much when you are tired.” lllllllllllllllllllllllll

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“A lot of people go for masters, but if you don’t get out and [engineer something] you won’t really have much experience,”

BY: Jaden Williams

of engineer you are going to be, Wadsworth said the best thing to do is to go with what you will love working with or what you’re at least be interested in. You can find out what type of engineering is best for you by how hard the classes were, “the hard classes were mostly because I was not that interested in the information being taught; it’s hard to have to think and remember

MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Arm&Emblem

Laptops, Desktops, All-in-One PCs, Printers, Ink & Toner, Monitors, and Accessories. Whatever you need, we have it.

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WindowsWindows is Microsoft’s operating system and is one of the most popular OS’ to date. It has always been a high

quality and popular OS for plenty of reasons, but has been really popular with gamers for how well games work on it, and how fast. For a long time Windows XP was the goto for gamers when it came to versions of Windows, but because of how old it is, it is a little outdated. Now the goto for gamers is Windows 7 for its improved graphics and bigger memory. Windows 8 seems like it would be good for gamers, but it’s too new, it hasn’t been out long enough for us to really tell how good it is for games. For more information check windows’ website.

Linux Linux has been popular in some part due to the fact that it’s developed collaboratively among different companies, meaning not just some developers from one company, but tons of developers from tons of different companies which makes Linux have lots of potential. Since it has been developed by so many companies, Linux has the possibility to work on tons of different devices and is common in a lot of popular Internet websites, such as YouTube, Twitter, and Google. For more information check Linux’s website.

WiNuCos

Windows 8 logo Windows 7 logo

Linux logo

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OverviewAn operating system is the software on a computer that enables applications and the computer operator to

access the devices on that computer. Many people wonder what the best operating system is, but the answer depends on what that person wants to do with the OS (operating system). Say if you want to work on important documents, you may want to have a different OS than if you wanted to play high quality games. This information is not meant to make one OS look better than the others, it is just meant as a helpful article that will give you information on what some good qualities of each OS are.

Mac OS XMac OS X is a Unix-based operating system which is Apple’s OS for Macintosh computers only. While Windows is

more popular than Mac and has been for a long time, Mac is catching up and with the summer release of Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, it is only getting closer. Because Mac OS X is made on top of Darwin, which is Apple’s free and open sourced operating system, it is compatible with some other Apple products like iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches and is another popular quality of Mac OS X. For more information check apples development manual for Mac, 2012.

Which operating system should I pick?

Apple logo

Windows VS Linux VS Mac

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1.00 billion

0.75

0.50

0.25

When a user types

www.facebook.com, behind the scenes

that name is translated into a IP address

IN THE IPv4 ADDRESS SYSTEM THAT NUMBER IS

66.220.149.32

2620::1cfe:face:b00c:::3

One of the 4,294,967,296 possible addresses

One of the 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,474,607,431,768,211,456 possible addresses

IN THE IPv6 ADDRESS SYSTEM THAT NUMBER WOULD BE

Number of unassigned

IPv4 addresses remaining.

IPv6 - The Internet in Transition

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Made by Hunter S. Thompson

1.00 billion

0.75

0.50

0.25

When a user types

www.facebook.com, behind the scenes

that name is translated into a IP address

IN THE IPv4 ADDRESS SYSTEM THAT NUMBER IS

66.220.149.32

2620::1cfe:face:b00c:::3

One of the 4,294,967,296 possible addresses

One of the 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,474,607,431,768,211,456 possible addresses

IN THE IPv6 ADDRESS SYSTEM THAT NUMBER WOULD BE

Number of unassigned

IPv4 addresses remaining.

IPv6 - The Internet in Transition

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

he Internet has fostered tremendous change in our world. As new technologies are invented, the strain on the Internet increases daily. Worldwide there are 2.4 billion computers connected to

the internet, according to Internet World Stats group (internetworldstats.com). This number does not include smart phones or tablets. We are now very close to running out of IPv4 (Internet Protocol version four) addresses.

IPv4, the basic protocol on which the entire Internet runs, was introduced in 1982. We need a new way to offset the ongoing shortage of IPv4s. “It’s growing more and more like that, as more people get devices and come into having Internet connectivity. It’s a growing problem in developing parts of the world.” said Chris Beuchler, founder of BSD Perimeter.

Work on IPv6, the next-generation base protocol, started in 1995. IPv4 uses 32 bit (4 bytes) addresses while IPV6 uses 128 bit (16 bytes) addresses, which allows for more computers, smart phones and tablets to connect to the Internet. In theory, IPv6 has 2^96 times as many addresses as IPv4. This same concept would apply if we ever run out of telephone numbers.

Everyone knows that a telephone in North America has 10 digits, which theoretically supports 10 billion devices. In practice, it’s far less because of the way area codes are broken down. The reality is that there really aren’t enough phone numbers to give every company or organization a large pool of phone numbers. Those who have large blocks of phone numbers pay for the privilege. As a result, many organizations don’t have enough public phone numbers for every telephone in their organization, so they use private phone extensions that are typically three to five digits long. This means that a single public phone number can translate to 100,000 (counting from 0 to 99,999) phones in the case of a five digit extension.

In the current world of IPv4 networking, the same kind of scarcity exists as there are not enough IP addresses to go around. NAT (Network Address Translation) was created to allow a single public IP address to support hundreds or even thousands of private IP address. For example,

“Its growing more and more like that, as more people get devices and into having internet connectivity. It’s a growing problem in developing parts of the world.”

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you may have an IPv4 address, 192.168.0.1, and your teacher has an IPv4 address, 192.168.0.2. You are both connected to the internet with a unique, separate IP address. If your school decides to use NAT, you both are now on the same public IPv4 address (the one connecting to the internet) 192.168.0.1, but you also have a private address (the one that connects to your public IP), 10.10.0.1 and 10.10.0.2, that are only visible on your internal network. This is a better use of IP address space, using

to. Imagine if it was a direct link between you and the computer you are trying to reach. Many people, like Mr. Beuchler, yearn for the day that NAT will be a thing of the past and IP addresses will be as abundant as the number of atoms in the oceans. IPv6 has four times the number of digits as IPv4 and has a pool size of 34 with 37 zeros behind it, 340 undecillion to be exact. It solves the problem, with a ton of room left over.

The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 will be a huge undertaking, and many companies, like Mr. Beuchler’s BSD Perimeter, are here to help with the transition. Let us imagine that telephone companies started offering a new telephone service that used a 40 decimal digit phone number. You would need upgraded or new telephones to use it, and you would need to update all your phonebooks and personal address books. The catch is that you can’t call any 10 digit telephones from the 40 digit phones because 10 digit telephones don’t know how to recognize your 40 digit phone number. If you want to be able to do this, you’ll have to also set up and pay for a traditional 10 digit telephone number. You will also need some extra equipment and some changes in your infrastructure to translate the new phone signals in to the old phone signals since the existing public phone infrastructure doesn’t always support the new phone signals.

This 40 digit telephone system is just a made up example, but it’s a good analogy to IPv6 and the transition we are headed for. An IPv6 migration will involve upgrading all applications, hosts, routers, and DNS infrastructure. Any organization moving to IPv6 will also have to maintain a complete IPv4 infrastructure parallel to the new IPv6 infrastructure, to support those who

aren’t on IPv6 yet, along with all the transitional technologies that make NAT issues look easy. Even though this transition may be difficult, it must be done, as parts of the Internet, such as APNIC, are already very close to running out of IPv4 addresses.

APNIC is the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) which covers the entire Asia Pacific region. This area comprises 56 economies throughout Asia and Oceania including Japan, China, Australia, and Korea. On April 15, 2011 the APNIC pool reached the last /8 of available IPv4 addresses (a /8 of space is approximately 16 million IPv4s), triggering APNIC’s “Final /8 policy”. RIPE NCC is the registry for Europe, the Middle East, Greenland, and Russia. RIPE NCC’s IPv4 pool dropped below their last /8 in September 14, 2012, triggering their “Final /8 policy”. Even the largest RIR, the American Registry for Internet Numbers, (ARIN), which serves the United States and Canada, and was given the largest allocation of IPv4 address space, announced

their move to Stage two (of four) in September 2012. ARIN’s Stage two policy began when it was down to three /8s of total space. In the month since, it has fallen to 2.8 /8s of space.

One /8 block contains about 16.5 million IPv4 addresses. While that sounds like a lot, the Internet is growing very, very quickly. Also, like the area codes in my telephone example, IP addresses are handed out in groups, which contributes to

“Nat is ugly, its nasty, it’s a hack. We’re not going to use it anymore. Period.”one IP to allow multiple computers able to connect to the internet. This is analogous to the private telephone extension scheme where a public phone address is translated to many private phone extensions. “NAT is ugly, it’s nasty, it’s a hack. We’re not going to use it anymore. Period.” said Beuchler. Many others agree with him about the problems NAT has created, just like many people don’t like the use of telephone extensions. “There are things like UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) that were invented to forward ports into [a] gaming system, so they have some kind of direct connectivity that way, but if your carrier is doing NAT for you, you can’t use something like UPnP to [connect like] that.” NAT has a tendency to break things like UPnP and VPN (virtual private networking). NAT makes direct connectivity impossible because you have to go through several IP layers to get to the computer you are trying to reach. Your Private IP to your public IP to the public IP of the machine your trying to connect to the private IP of the machine you are trying to connect

“Mobile Internet connectivity, has seen millions more devices connecting to the Internet.”

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the problem. APNIC has been growing faster than the other four regional IP address authorities. APNIC explained their huge growth by stating, “Previously low penetration rates for domestic broadband, combined with an unprecedented surge in the rollout of networks providing mobile Internet connectivity, has seen millions more devices connecting to the Internet.”

The solution to the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses is IPv6. “IPv6 deployment is now a critical business issue, for everyone who uses or relies on the Internet. Today, when you think Internet, you need to think IPv6,” said Paul Wilson, APNIC Director General at a ceremony marking the transition to APNIC’s last /8. RIPE has a similar statement, “It is now imperative that all stakeholders deploy IPv6 on their networks to ensure the continuity of their online operations and the future growth of the Internet.”

Today, 99 percent of the Internet is still IPv4-only. “Lack of support from ISPs (internet serivce providers), lack of support from network vendors,

the lack of knowledge, the lack of a business requirement currently, are the only things holding back IPv6,” said Beuchler. There is just no way that everything will be IPv6-enabled before we completely run out of IPv4 addresses in two or three years. Or before the class of 2016 is out of highschool, the Internet will stop growing.

By Jim Thompson

Ermal Lugosi, Andrew Thompson, and Chris Buechler (left to right), the main devlopers of pfSense, a IPv6 based Open source firewall / VPN platform.

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By: Hunter S. Thompson

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By: Lindy ManzkeWe survayed 39 gamers of all shapes and sizes to find out what gaming systems they used, and which they liked

best, the graphs below show our results.

All graphs created by Lindy Manzke on Create

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