The impact of IPv6 on the enterprise

When the internet was originally designed, the computing and communications environment was vastly different from today’s situation. Four billion unique addresses seemed sufficient for the entire planet’s networking needs. But the world today is a different place, and the near future promises to bring even further demand for unique IP addresses.

IPv6 is now no longer just a phenomenon in the research community and is really starting to take off, especially in Asia. Asia is one of the leading deployment regions of the world for IPv6, with one of the reasons being that Asian countries with huge internet population growth are facing a serious shortage of IPv4 internet addresses, especially when one considers the increasing number of internet-capable handheld, business and household devices.

Although we may say that each person can get an IP address under IPv4, if everyone also has a mobile phone, a portable digital television, a laptop, a PDA, a game console and so on, then the number of IP addresses needed would increase by five or 10 times. Add all the various other items inside the home (refrigerator, air conditioner, hi-fi and other appliances) and there is even more demand for unique IP addresses.

Predictions suggest that these trends will see the world run out of IPv4 addresses by as soon as 2010, so it’s an area that enterprises need to be aware of and take steps to embrace IPv6.

There are workarounds already being effectively used. NAT — network address translation — creates subnets that allow our gateways to distribute private IP addresses, and share a small pool of 'real' IPv4 addresses. But this is just a stopgap solution. What we really need are permanent IP addresses for people and for devices if we are to really take advantage of the wonderful potential that networked applications can bring about.

There are a number of steps that enterprises can start taking now as they start this migration:

• Assessing existing infrastructure. While software can be upgraded, it is likely that most enterprises will have hardware that doesn’t support IPv6. In many cases this will be low-end routers and identifying where these are is a first step towards IPv6 migration.

• Taking an evolutionary approach to IPv6. Enterprises that are thinking about IPv6 migration now can enjoy significant cost reductions. Ensuring IPv6-enablement in all new products as part of planned product procurement is a simple way of ensuring that infrastructure is, at least in part, IPv6 ready when it comes to switching over.

• Training. Ensuring that IT staff are equipped and skilled to manage and administer IPv6 networks should be a key consideration. Building IPv6 training into the program and budget needs to happen now to give departments time to get sufficiently accredited.

• Considering the security implications. Because every device, and person, is assigned a unique IP address under IPv6, there is the potential for every one of these addresses to be attacked by hackers. This makes robust network security essential. Network security is critical today, but it becomes even more crucial in IPv6, when most appliances can be activated or deactivated over the network.

Managed correctly, IPv6 needn’t be a major problem for enterprises. However, this requires proper thought and planning now. Ensuring that network infrastructure is designed and upgraded with IPv6 in mind will ensure that the benefits of mobile devices, multiple IP addresses and the added flexibility it provides are exploited without costly and disruptive upgrades in a few years' time.

*Ben Hickey is a systems engineer for Juniper Networks in Australia.

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