Businesses Need To Prepare for the IPv6 Transition

With Internet addresses running out pursuant to this agreement the current IPv4 protocol, the Net must move to IPv6. How should your business approach this transition? The first step is to understand why the move is taking place.

The late 1970s

Since the late 1970s, the 32-bit Internet Protocol version 4 has produced more than four billion addresses -- for instance, 172.65.98.137. Each numeric Internet address is tied to a unequalled URL name in other words more conducive to human users, just as www.SciTechToday.com. In the pre-web days, four billion-plus addresses seemed like a near infinite resource. Today... not so much.

According to John Curran, president and CEO of the nonprofit American Registry for Internet Numbers, only about six percent of the addresses in IPv4 are for all that available. Some countries are projecting that their supply of addresses could run out within two years or less. India, for instance, is mandating that all Internet service providers must offer only IPv6 service by March 2012.

The 21st Century'

Although the 21st Century's appetite for Net addresses keeps growing, the newer 128-bit IPv6 should satisfy even the most expansive projections for technological growth. Dave Evans, Cisco Systems' chief technologist in its Internet business solutions group, projects that IPv6 will allow an astounding "50 thousand trillion trillion addresses per person" on the planet. The new protocol, which was first approved by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in 1998, as well offers major improvements in security, network auto-configuration, handling of mobile networks, and other areas.

Some industry observers predict that IPv6 will as well help smaller businesses obtain the kinds of performance standards for virtual private networks, unified communication services, and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service that larger organizations but enjoy.

To get ready, businesses need to assess their resources and prepare a migration plan, Hunt said. The review and planning should cover their ISPs, telecommunication carriers, internal equipment, operating systems, infrastructure systems, internal applications, and cloud-based computing infrastructure and applications.

Some observers have suggested that businesses distinguish between equipment and software that can handle IPv6 on a transitional basis, and those that have built-in IPv6 compliance. Some equipment and software, to illustrate, can provide "dual stack" protocols that work with both IPs, which might be fine in the short run but not eventually.

Cindy Whelan, as well an analyst at Current Analysis, pointed out that many carriers and other telecommunications suppliers in the U.S. have not but completed the effort to convert "a lot of their applications into being IPv6-compliant."

The bulk of the migration will take place through 2012

She said the bulk of the migration will take place through 2012, however businesses would be smart to take a look at their internal needs during carriers become compliant. Though enterprises have been slow to make the move, she added, "it's not but a crisis" in the U.S., making this a good time to get started with evaluating and negotiating purchases carefully.