IPv6 - The Future of the Internet

Internet Protocol Version 6

It has been projected that in less than a year from now, we will have run out of IPv4 addresses. In an earlier post, I had mentioned that the most viable remedy is to transition to IPv6. IPv6 is capable of providing trillions of IP addresses (thanks to the 128-bit address field – IPv4 only has 32 bits). Even so, many technologies are fully IPv6 compatible. However, Internet Service Providers (ISP) and other large players at the enterprise level are dragging their heels over transitioning.

I decided to revisit this topic after reading an article in CIO, called “Five Things You Need To Know About IPv6” by David F. Carr. Carr pointed out that part of the reason the transition got put on the back burner was that during the middle part of this past decade, people started thinking “’Maybe we don’t need it, maybe this is a false alarm.’” However, thanks to the exponential growth of the smartphone market (and other web enabled devices like Kindles and Ipads); the IPv4 addresses are running out faster than anticipated.

Benefits

Not only is IPv6 the solution to furthering internet access for future generations, IPv6 features a much stronger encryption level than the current IPv4, a relief as cybercrime and personal security threats are  currently on the rise.

A report Published by Internet Security Systems states that

• Due to the long and sparsely populated address spaces of IPv6, the Protocol is “highly resistant to malicious scans and inhospitable to automated, scanning, and self-propagating worms.”

• “Other IPv6 features, such as the auto-configuration of addresses, make it complicated for a malicious attacker to probe systems for weaknesses.

The Bottom Line

Even Google, the ominous web services provider has hopped on the IPv6 bandwagon. The site offers a special sub-domain for those already using IPv6 (ipv6.google.com).

The fact of the matter is the transition to IPv6 needs to pick up speed. We don’t want to be left in the middle of a major technical crisis due to depletion of the IPv4 reserves.