Few technical terms gained such momentum in 2011 as the new Internet Protocol, version six (IPv6).

The sudden attention may seem a bit strange, given the fact that IPv6 was first described by The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in the Internet standard document, RFC, in December 1998. Having been involved in the IPv6 community for over a decade, the news of version four running out did not come as a surprise to me, nor to anyone in my field; it was a mathematical probability as certain as tomorrow’s sunrise (if not more). However, in today’s society we have grown to depend on the ability of constantly being connected to our friends across the globe.

Usage of IP addresses

Increased usage of the Internet in the 1990s, as well as technological advances, proved difficult to solve with IPv4, as it was not designed for a world where every electronic device we own is used as a portable computer.

In fact, even suggesting that there might eventually come a need for a new protocol in the future would have been quite absurd back when IPv4 first came, given that there are 4.3 billion possible IPv4-addresses. Does this mean that all those addresses are now in use? Well, not technically. What is referred to as ‘IPv4 depletion’ really only means that all the large IP-ranges (/8s or /16s, for example) have been delegated to organisations around the world. However, with all the major ranges already assigned, this poses a threat to booming economies with a growing interest in the Internet, such as China and India.

IPv6 brings about fundamental changes

Regardless of its impending doom, few customers even contemplate the fundamental change that is waiting around the corner. Don’t forget that with customer unawareness comes business ignorance, where few but the major actors on the market realized the need for early migration to limit the financial impact.

Temporary solutions have been presented, but few do anything but avoid the inevitable. Although a lot of people strongly dislike Network Address Translation, or NAT, it has bought us some extra time, which might prove valuable in the bigger picture.

Even tunnel mechanisms such as 6in4 (where IPv6 is sent through existing IPv4 infrastructure, using encapsulation) are only really useful in the short run. The goal of any transition mechanism is to facilitate the migration from native IPv4 to native IPv6 – not to create an Internet based on tunnels.

How does it affect ordinary internet users?

By now, you are probably wondering what all this will mean for you. Well, for most people the migration will take place unbeknownst to them. The worst case scenario will probably involve getting a new modem from your Internet provider, or perhaps waiting in a phone queue for a few hours on a Monday afternoon. However, for business owners this might pose a threat to their current infrastructure and financial stability, with an upcoming need for investments and manpower.

What is the cost of the IPv6 migration?

For companies which have not already started their migration, or are lucky enough to be connected to a v6-capable backbone, the migration to IPv6 will cost quite some money.

Primarily, they will need to replace software and hardware which might not be capable of handling IPv6 traffic, but they will also need to educate current company technicians on the new protocol and how to use it efficiently.

As most major organisations are passed that point, the focus of article two in this series will instead be on the affect this will have on small business owners, who are in direct contact with end-customers, whether it be as a small DSL-provider, or as a consultant in an Internet start-up.

The IPv4 to IPv6 migration cannot be avoided, nor should it. We should instead embrace this new protocol and not fear the possible implications, but rather see it as a challenge and ultimately a new business opportunity, as new problems always give birth to new solutions. This is the time to step up and be a part of that solution. In the next article we will discuss best practices how to handle the migration to IPv6.

Article written for SEO Specialist by Johan Boger, Six Access, (e: johan@oper.sixxs.net)