5 Reasons You Should Upgrade to IPv6

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Let’s face it.

Implementing IPv6 is a potentially messy undertaking.

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Planning

Testing

Training

OSS/ BSS

Support

Design

Core Migration

Regional Migration

Edge DeviceMigration

Given the complexity of migration, currently only

a small fraction of the Internet supports IPv6

Planning

Testing

Training

OSS/ BSS

Support

Design

Core Migration

Regional Migration

Edge DeviceMigration

How Small?

Planning

Testing

Training

OSS/ BSS

Support

Design

Core Migration

Regional Migration

Edge DeviceMigration

As of June 6, 2012

3% of domain names

12% of networks Supports IPv6

As of June 6, 2012

3% of domain names

12% of networks Supports IPv6

So there’s no big rush to be IPv6 ready right?

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Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean you can relax.

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Here’s Why.

THE POOL IS DRYING UP1

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Unallocated IP address pools are being exhausted

APNIC and RIPE exhausted their IP address pools on April 19, 2011 and September 14, 2012 respectively

AUGUST 31, 2013 JUNE 1, 2015 OCTOBER 9, 2019

ARIN is next.

Now, it’s harder than ever to access the remaining IPv4 resources.

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RIRs are allocating smaller blocks under stricter requirements.

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LIMITED ROOM FOR GROWTH2

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As of 2011, there are 10,300,000,000networked connections in the world.

But there are only 4,294,967,296 IPv4 addresses

As of 2011, there are 10,300,000,000networked connections in the world.

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For those not planning to upgrade,

IP address management will

become increasingly crucial to

your daily operations.

To continue your growth, you need to carefully plan how you use your existing resources.

Worse case scenario, you may find yourself turning down new subscribers because you don’t have room to expand.

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To combat this, some operators are using Network Address Translation (NAT) to allow subscribers to share public IP addresses…

Single IPv4 Address

Single IPv4 Address

….but that brings another set of problems.

Single IPv4 Address

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While NAT helps you stretch your resources, it does not provide a high level of security and increases the complexity of your network.

You will have to deal with address substitutions when troubleshooting.

NAT may also complicate law enforcement reporting.

While useful in the short run, NAT really shouldn’t be considered an alternative to IPv6.

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IPv6 reduces complexity, provides end-to-end address visibility and allows you to start numbering from scratch

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UNHAPPYSUBSCRIBERS4

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Over time, subscriber services such as virtual private networks will cease to work on IPv4.

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Their access to new apps and services may become limited, as more developers take advantage of IPv6 features to create faster apps, which may not function correct on IPv4 networks.

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Aside from ensuring support for new apps and services, IPv6 provides true network security by offering more encryption and authentication options.

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YOU’LL PAY THE PRICE5

As fewer IPv4 blocks are being handed out under tighter controls, there’ll be stiff competition for IPv4 space.

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You will have to allocate more time and resources to RIR requests.

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Buying under-utilized address blocks from other companies will cost you.

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In 2011, Microsoft purchased 660,000 IPv4 addresses from Nortel at

$11 per IP Address.

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This price will increase as IPv4 addresses become increasingly scarce.

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When you run out of IPv4 space, you would be unable to add new subscribers or increase revenue.

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IPv6 helps you support long term subscriber and services growth.

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By implementing it while you still have sufficient IPv4 resources, you will avoid a complex NAT workaround or having to compete for scares IPv4 addresses.

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There’s no question that IPv4 and IPv6 will coexist for years to come.

But given the shortages, a perfect IPv4 network is far from sustainable.

Transition mechanisms such as IPv6 Rapid Deployment can use your existing infrastructure to serve IPv6 support to your subscribers.

The industry is moving forward

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MSOs are testing and commercially launching IPv6

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Dual stack strategies are being deployed across networks

worldwide with great success

MSOs are testing and commercially launching IPv6

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Major companies, home router manufacturers and ISP

in more than 100 countries have already launched IPv6

Dual stack strategies are being deployed across networks

worldwide with great success

MSOs are testing and commercially launching IPv6

IPv6 encourages end-to-end networks, supports better quality of service, and is more efficient for routing.

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Everything will eventually migrate over to IPv6. Will you?

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Want to learn more about the IPv6 transition?

Learn more IPv6 basics, transition strategies and implementation issues in this complimentary two part paper.