Dublin, 7 November 2024—Jen Linkova today was awarded the Itojun Service award for over a decade of work to extend the deployment and use of IPv6, the new generation of Internet Protocol. Her work has been particularly important in increasing IPv6 deployment within enterprises, which has been a significant challenge to its widespread adoption. The award was presented during the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) meeting in Dublin being held this week.
IPv6 is critical to ensuring the Internet can continue to grow and evolve while used by billions more people and devices every day. Linkova is the author of 8 IETF RFCs, which provide specifications for technologies used in the global Internet and has authored numerous IPv6-related Internet drafts. She is also a co-chair of the IETF IPv6 Maintenance (6man) working group, which is responsible for the maintenance, upkeep, and advancement of the IPv6 protocol specifications and addressing architecture.
The work Jen has done to make IPv6 deployable in enterprise settings is incredibly important. She was a key force in getting nearly every major operating system and router vendor to implement IPv6. She is already looking forward to anticipating and dealing with issues faced by IPv6 deployment as it continues to increase. Jen has been working tirelessly and selflessly at this for years, and her work really fits the spirit of the Itojun Award.”
It’s an honor to be receiving the Itojun Service Award. I never had the opportunity to meet Itojun in person, but to be associated with his legacy is truly humbling. This award is not just about personal recognition. It’s a testament to the collective effort of the entire IPv6 community. I’m grateful to the award committee and the Internet Society for acknowledging my contributions. I also want to thank my coworkers, colleagues, and family for their unwavering support and guidance. And a special thanks to everyone who dared to implement my crazy ideas – you’re the ones who truly brought them to life. Itojun was a pioneer who paved the way for the future of the Internet. His dedication to IPv6 development laid the foundation for the progress we’ve made so far. While we haven’t reached the finish line yet, we wouldn’t have come this far without his vision and commitment. I wish he were here today to witness the impact of his work and guide us further on this journey.”
Linkova is a Staff Network Engineer at Google, Australia, where she has spent the last 15+ years designing, building, and evolving Google’s global network infrastructure. Her focus has been first on IPv6 deployment and on the transition of the Google enterprise network to IPv6-only mode. Prior to Google, Jen worked at Cisco and various ISPs and content providers.
A long-time IPv6 advocate and active participant in both the operator and IETF communities, Jen has authored 8 RFCs and is currently contributing to 10 active Internet-drafts. She served as co-chair of the RIPE IPv6 Working Group from 2014 to 2024 and now co-chairs the IETF IPv6 Maintenance Working Group.
About the Itojun Award
First awarded in 2009, the Itojun Service Award honors the memory of Dr. Jun-ichiro “Itojun” Hagino, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 37. The award, established by the friends of Itojun and administered by the Internet Society, recognizes and commemorates the extraordinary dedication exercised by Itojun over the course of IPv6 development. This year will be the final presentation of the award.
The Itojun Service Award has been focused on pragmatic contributions to developing and deploying IPv6 in the spirit of serving the Internet. The award includes a presentation crystal, a US$3,000 honorarium, and a travel grant.
About IPv6
All devices that connect to the Internet need an Internet Protocol (IP) address. IPv6 is the new generation address standard, offering a far greater pool of public addresses than IPv4. The available pool of previous-generation IPv4 addresses has been depleted, so awareness and deployment of IPv6 have become more important.
About the Internet Engineering Task Force
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is the Internet’s premier technical standards body. It gathers a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet.
About the Internet Society
Founded in 1992 by Internet pioneers, the Internet Society is a global charitable organization working to ensure that the Internet is for everyone. Through its community of members, special interest groups, and 130+ chapters around the world, the organization defends and promotes Internet policies and technologies that keep the Internet open, globally connected, and secure.