IPv6 Articles
An Internet Protocol PrimerHave you ever wondered how your email or web page manages to travel across the Internet and end up exactly where it's meant to be (most of the time)? You'd be right in assuming that there is a scheme that controls this: before any message can be sent across the Internet it must be given a kind of digital envelope, and like a letter, it must have a destination address and a return address.For Internet computers to be able to send and receive messages, their addresses must be unique and of a fixed size. With IPv4 there are only a certain number of possible addresses - just as the number of digits in a telephone number determines the maximum number of subscribers. IPv4 has almost reached its use-by date. Nearly all possible IPv4 addresses have been allocated to networks and computers - and unlike telephone numbers, when you run out of IP addresses you can't just add another digit. Read more here... The Advantages of IPv6The benefits of the Internet are drawn directly from the platform of interoperability created by use of the Internet Protocol, leading to a large "network effect". That is, the benefits to a company from the Internet arise not just by the extent to which the company itself uses the Internet, but far more from the extent to which others - suppliers, customers and individuals - also use the Internet. Because IPv6 will greatly increase the size and range of devices connected to the Internet, the benefit of the network effect will increase accordingly.The World Wide Web and other Internet applications currently use version 4 of the Internet Protocol - IPv4. IP version 6 was developed to deal with a looming shortage of addresses under IPv4. Since then, there have been numerous technical fixes to shore up IPv4 and postpone the need for a move to IPv6, as well as debate on whether IPv6 would even be required. That debate is now generally agreed to be over. The IPv4 address space is expected to run out around 2011. Read more here... |
Myths Surrounding IPv6Change always causes concern - not least about who will pay for it all. But the mood is changing; the need to move to IPv6 is becoming clearer. People are asking "how?" instead of "why?" IPv6 is being seen, correctly, as an investment rather than a cost. The more people learn, the more they realise that IPv6 is not merely a way to avoid the address space crunch, it is also a path to innovation and new opportunities.As more and more people work with IPv6, more and more information about IPv6 experiences is becoming available on the Web. People are discovering the resources they need. Along with good information, bad information is out there, and some tenacious myths are causing unwarranted concern. We address the more common ones in the following sections:
Capabilities of IPv6The basic carriage and management services of IPv4 all have their equivalents in IPv6. However IPv6 offers enhanced and additional capabilities:
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